Undisclosed
by BellaZara
Summary: Bella Swan is shipped off from London to a boarding school in Florida when her parents finally can't take anymore of her bad attitude. All the while harboring a soul crushing secret that she wont let anyone find out, her confined world is turned upside down when the unlikely Edward Cullen finds his way to her heart, making it impossible to keep up her charade.
1. Chapter One

_CHAPTER ONE_

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?"

I heard my mother whisper to my father as I put the last of my bags onto the conveyor belt to be checked in. With all the doubt she was having, you'd think she'd say something louder, and be more consistent; everyone knew she was stubborn enough. I got that from her.

My Dad just nodded, never taking his eyes off me as the lady behind the desk handed me my boarding cards. His arm was wrapped around Mom and they both looked like they had tears in their eyes.

I didn't get it. This was all their idea. It was my 'bad behavior', 'atrocious grades' and 'inexplicable attitude' that made them ship me off. They should be glad it was finally happening after all their threats. I knew I was.

I turned around and walked out of the queue and over to where they stood, waiting for me. We stared awkwardly for a few minutes, when I finally had to break the silence.

"Well, I guess I better get going. Florida a waits…"

My mother sighed, "Bella, you know we're only doing this for you. I just- we just want you to mature, and become an adult; to find yourself-"

"You need to grow up, and sort yourself out." My Dad interrupted, bluntly.

My mom turned to glare at him, but I knew it was what she was thinking too. I just stood, and said nothing. I'd heard this lecture a thousand times before. My bad grades were one thing, but missing my curfew and never making dinner on time had taken its toll on my parents.

They believed that I was out partying and drinking on the streets of London, making a nuisance and fool of myself. They had no idea. I hardly had any friends that would mind being seen with me outside school, let alone go partying with me. I spent my nights in the abandoned community gardens in Kensington. I didn't drink. I just sat and watched the stars.

Seeing that I had nothing to say for myself, my father shifted uncomfortably, "Alright, Bells. You better get onto your flight before it leaves without you."

My mom pulled me close into a hug, "Call us as soon as you get settled, okay sweetie?"

I pulled away and just nodded. My Dad gave me a one armed hug, and saluted me, "Safe flight, Champ."

I'd had this nickname for as long as I could remember. My father, Charlie Swan was originally from America, although he'd never once taken me to visit his home town. After he met and fell in love with my mother, Renee Dwyer; the daughter of a Lord in Kensington, she took him overseas to London and married there. God knows my Grandfather wasn't happy with this arrangement. My mother had only gone to Michigan for volunteer work, and after a month she'd come back with more than a souvenir. 'Good for nothing Yankee' my Granddad had called him. It took Charlie 3 years to finally win over Henry Dwyer.

I waved them goodbye and trudged my way along to Gate 27. There was still 40 minutes until the gate open to board passengers, and so I had to entertain myself until then. I had my iPod, and a few books with me, but I doubted that would keep me going. I had down in the only seat available; between an extremely overweight middle aged man snoring louder than my Uncle Will, and a punk teenager who sounded like he was giving himself permanent hearing damage, his music was that loud.

Reluctantly I sat down in the middle of them and pulled out my first book. I was all set to get lost in the fields of Wuthering Heights with Kathy and Heathcliff when my eye caught someone looking back at me across the gate. He was tanned and athletic looking, with dark wavy hair falling into his brown eyes while it was shorter at the back. His smile grew more pronounced the minute he saw me looking at him and he gave me a sympathetic look, glancing at the people I sat next to. I smiled back and dropped my eyes down to my book.

Half an hour later, the snoring man dropped his hand from the arm rest and woke himself up. After some loud grunting and sniffling, he stood up and shuffled along over to the male restrooms. I was glad; I could finally breathe again. I leaned my head in the palm of my hand and returned to Heathcliff and the grange.

'Bet you're glad he's gone, eh?'

I jumped at the sound of the husky voice that now sat next to me. I looked up to see the same tanned boy from before. I glance back to where he sat originally and, sure enough, his old seat was empty. I looked back towards him. He was smiling, searching my face for some sort of reaction. His grin was big and goofy, with his lips parted and his white teeth showing. It was infectious; I smiled back.

'Yes, I am actually. I was about to punch him to wake him up myself.'

He raised his eyebrows at my accent and chuckled, 'I would have liked to see that. I'm Jacob, by the way. Jacob Black.' He extended his arm to me.

I took it shyly, 'I'm Bella Swan.'

'So you going to Florida for a visit? Alone..?'

It was my turn to chuckle, 'No. I'm… moving.' I sighed, 'I'm starting Everglades Academy. Know of it?'

'Know of it? My sister teaches there! I'm always dragged to all the formals and dances, charity events and proms. Jesus, there's a lot of 'em.' He leaned back in the chair, getting comfortable.

I felt my face turn into a grimace. Dances were not my thing.

'Great,' I said, sarcastically.

The middle aged snorer came shuffling back just then, and looked shock when he saw his seat had been taken. Jacob made no effort of moving however, and so with an 'hmph!', my Uncle Will look-a-like grumbled to another seat.

'Do you live in Florida?' I asked.

'Yep, Biscayne Bay. I was here for a family wedding. The rest of them are staying another week, but I can't take it anymore. England is miserable! Where's the sun?' He lifted his hands to indicate the sun was definitely absent.

I gave him a fake solemn look, 'It was reported missing about 70 years ago, and no matter the efforts of the police, and also FBI, it still hasn't been found. It's devastating really.'

He laughed at my joke, 'You're right there! Trust me; you'll love the Florida sunshine.'

Just then, the airport announcer's voice roared across the gate, declaring it was now open and passenger must begin to board. Jacob jumped and flung his back pack across his back. I reached down to grab my travel case, but his hand flashed before mine and took before I could.

He grinned cheekily, 'Allow me.'

I blushed, and smiled back. It was odd, but in the 15 minutes I had been talking to Jacob, I really liked him. He was easy to get on with; he had a warm personality. Now that I stood next to him as we walked to the gate, I could see that he was incredibly tall. I was an average 5' 4", but he was at least 6' 2", if not more, easily towering heads above me. We both passed through the desk and had our boarding cards torn. Climbing through airplane door, we were greeted by the friendly air hostess as she wished us a good flight.

It turned out Jacob was sitting across the aisle from me. He lifted my travel case into the compartments above easily, along with his own bag and sat down in his seat, immediately adjusting the back to fit his long legs. He grinned over at me and offered some mints.

The flight was long. Very long. I read my book, and chatting some more to Jacob. I even slept for a few hours, and woke to find the Jacob had covered me with a blanket. I turned to thank him, and saw he was sleeping himself. His head lolled to the side and he had a peaceful look on his face.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, we landed. The captain's voice sounded golden as he announced the temperature and weather, thanking us for flying with American Airlines.

Jacob once again grabbed my bag and refused to let me carry it. He even loaded my other suitcases onto an airport trolley and rolled it to the arrivals along with his own luggage.

'So, Bella; I know this may sound… weird. But can I get your number? I'd like to meet up sometime, especially since you're gonna be living a half hour away from me'

We stood outside the airport, waiting for a taxi. I smiled as I considered giving this stranger my number. I was usually so conserved and shy; I never met cute guys, let alone am asked for my number.

I laughed, I did that a lot with Jacob, 'Sure, why not?'

He grin became even bigger, and he held out his arm and a pen. His skin was burning as I held his arm and inked my name and number into his skin. He was really hot.

'Thanks, I'll call you,' he smiled and lifted his arm to hail the taxi about to pass. He opened the door and fitted my case into the back seat, along with my bigger cases into the trunk. He held the door open and waded his arm to let me in, 'Ladies first.'

'Thank you, Jacob. It was really nice to meet you. You made the flight a lot more bearable. I hope to see you again soon.'

'Sure thing, Bella. I told you, I'll call you,' he winked.

I climbed in the cab and the address of the Academy to the driver. It was finally real, it was happening. I was beginning a new life in Florida, away from my parents, and away from the pressure of trying to keep my secret. The sunshine of Florida felt so different to the confined, dreary blanket of London that trapped you in its depressing streets and climate. It was free and open, I felt like I could breathe.

I pulled up to the gates of the Academy in no time. The cab driver kindly helped me with my bags and pulled them up with me right to the reception. I paid and thanked him, turning to the lady sat behind the glass reception.

'Hi, sweetie; how can I help?' She wore a black knee length office dress and had a professional ponytail and thick stylish glasses.

'Hi, my name is Isabella Swan. I'm a new student here, I'm transferring from London.' I felt my cheeks redden.

'Oh, of course! Welcome! Well, honey all your paper have been signed and dealt with, so I just need to show you your room. Follow me!'

We walked along the grand looking lobby of the building, and passed a sign which indicated the Dormitories. After getting off the elevator at the 7th floor, we walked along the hallway until we came to room 0413.

The reception turned to me, 'This is your room; you'll be sharing with another girl, Miss. Hale. Here's your key, and also your ID card, you'll need this to get into the buildings across campus.' She smiled warmly as she gave me the items and turned to knock on the door.

A beautiful blonde girl who was 3 inches taller than me and had the body of a swimsuit model opened the door. She looked at the receptionist, and then at me.

'Delivery for Miss. Hale! Let me introduce your new roommate, Isabella Swan!' the receptionist cheerily smiled.

The girl smiled at me and offered her hand, and I took it, 'Hi, I've been expecting you. I'm Rosalie – Rose for short.'

'Hello, I'm Bella,' I smiled back.

The receptionist left us to get acquainted and Rose told me about herself as she helped me unpack. She was a friendly girl. I found out she was in the year above me, and that she was majoring in Engineering.

After helping me unpack, she excused herself and said she was meeting her boyfriend for dinner. She invited me along, but I could tell she was reluctant so I declined. I wanted some time alone anyway. I organized my shelves and hung my clothes, trying to get settled into my new home. The dorms were lovely. The front door opened into a small living room with a couch small TV and a mini fridge. There were two door leading out of the room, one was my bedroom and the other obviously Rosalie's. The bedroom's were simple too, just a small desk, bed and wardrobe. The view from the windows was incredible, however. It was a city view of Florida from the 7th floor, and far off into the distance, you could make out the ocean. After everything was unpacked and organized, I didn't feel much like eating. I curled up onto a chair in my room instead and looked out onto the stunning night lights of Florida.

It was then, as I sat alone in my new dorm, my new home, finally away from London; that I shed my first few tears as my life was slowly crumbling around me.

**So here's the first Chapter to Undisclosed. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know if it's something you'd like to continue to read. I have a whole plot planned out, just hope there's enough people willing to read it so I can carry on! Let me know what you think! **


	2. Chapter Two

**Okay, thank you everyone who favorite, reviewed, and added Undisclosed to their alerts etc. Obviously it means a lot, and hopefully more and more people will read as I post more chapters! I'm going to try and write long chapters, so forgive me if it takes a while to update. **

_CHAPTER TWO_

My alarm screamed and shrieked me out of my dream the next morning. I groaned and smacked my hand on top of it to shut it up. Turning over, I faced the other wall of my room and caught sight of the clothes hanging on the wardrobe. I groaned again, louder.

Today was my first day of classes; the first day of the semester; and the first day of my life in Everglades Academy. I was going to meet all my classmates today, and have to introduce myself in all my classes, if it was anything like London. Hopefully they didn't care too much about that stuff here, I thought.

I reluctantly heaved myself out of bed and trudged along to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth and my hair. I came out and changed into my clothes I'd set out earlier for today. I opted for simple. I definitely did not want to stand out, and so I chose my dark skinny Levi's jeans with an American Apparel sweater. It was still September and fairly chilly, but after living in the frost of London, Florida's winter was nothing to me; so I didn't need a jacket.

When I walked out, Rosalie was already sat at the couch having a breakfast bar. She looked stunning, just like I remembered. She wore a thin tight fighting turtle neck sweater and high-waisted skinny jeans. She looked like a runway model. Her thick blonde waves flowed down past her waist.

She turned to look at me when I walked out of my room, and immediately I felt the difference in our appearances. I must look like a tramp compared to her.

She smiled to me anyway, 'Good morning, Bella.'

'Morning, Rosalie.'

'Oh please,' she rolled her eyes, 'Just Rose, I hate Rosalie. That's my Grandmother. Grumpy old witch.'

I laughed, 'Okay, Rose.'

She placed the magazine she was reading on the coffee table, 'Did you get well settled last night? Sorry I couldn't stay to help you.'

I went over the mini fridge to grab myself a bar as I spoke, 'Oh don't worry about it, and I wouldn't expect you to cancel your plans. I managed fine, just hung up my clothes. Did you have a nice evening?'

'It was okay. My boyfriend, Emmett, forgot to mention he invited his best friends from the baseball team. So instead of a romantic meal to celebrate for last evening of the summer, I sat with three boys as they debated their game plan for the next game.' She rolled her eyes as she let out a sigh.

'Ah, that sounds… fun?'

'Fun, is not the word Bella.'

After that we got our things together, and walked over to our classes. Rose was in Jefferson building first thing, and so she directed me to Hanson building, where I was. I walked past the car lot and right over almost on the other side of the campus. It was huge, and my dorm was probably the furthest from most of my classes. It was about a 20 minute walk until I finally reached Hanson building. I was so engrossed into my map trying not to get lost, that I stupidly wasn't looking where my feet where walking. It was only when I crashed straight into something hard that I realized this though, dropping all my papers and folder to the ground.

'Oh I'm so sorry,' I mumbled as I immediately bent down to pick my things up.

A pair of hands with long, strong fingers where already there picking up and collecting my map, and paper's, swiftly putting them into my folder. I stood up again, feeling my cheek burning violently. However it was when I looked up to the person that handed over my folder, that I knew my cheek were embarrassingly on fire. I must have looked like a clown.

He was beautiful. Easily the most perfect face I had ever seen. He stood a half and a head taller than me, and blocked the sunlight with his body, so I had no trouble taking in his features. His hair was unruly, sticking out in every direction and it was slightly short on the sides in a bronze colored beautiful mess. It fell slightly into his eyes, which were a luminous shade of emerald green, bore straight into mine. His nose was perfectly straight and angular, and below it his full lips.

Those lips moved then, and it took me a second to realize he was speaking.

'I- I'm sorry, what?'

'I said are you alright?' he said, a smile playing around his lips. His voice was even softer and more musical than I could have ever imagined.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' I said, finally forcing myself to look away from his face. Unfortunately that just led my eyes to his body, which wasn't too hard to miss as he was stood less than a foot away from me. He was tall, obviously, and well toned. I could see his muscles through his shirt, and I could tell he was well built but lean at the same time. Perfect.

'Here's your folder,' he said, softly, handing over my binder and map on top.

I smiled as my cheeks burnt and took it from him, while neither of us made the slightest effort to move. I saw through my lashes that he was looking at me with a confused expression on his face.

'Are you sure you're okay? Do you know where you're going?' He eyed my map.

'Y-yeah, I think so. That's Hanson building isn't it?' I stammered.

'Yeah, that's the one,' he paused, 'you new here? I haven't seen you around before.'

Of course, even if I'd lived here all my life, somebody like him would never notice someone like me.

'Yes, I am. It's my first day here. I've just transferred from London,' I added when he raised his eyebrows at my accent.

'OH! You're the London chick I've heard about!'

A huge, burly guy suddenly popped up from behind him. He was easily 3inches taller than him, and looked like bands of muscle were wrapped around his entire body. He has curly dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He laughed when I took a half a step backwards and widened my eyes in shock.

'I'm Emmett, you're rooming with my girlfriend, Rose… right? Room 0413?'

'Oh yes, of course,' they looked at me like I was mentally challenged. I probably was right now.

'I'm Bella.'

The bronze haired beauty extended his hand to me then and smiled an exquisite crooked smile, 'I'm Edward.'

I placed my own hand in his numbly shook it. All the while Edward looked at me, expecting me to start screaming and running away like a mental patient.

More of Emmett and Edward's friend starting to surround us then, all eyeing me curiously.

'Guys, this is the English chick, Rose was talking about, Bella,' Emmett introduced me to his friends, as they all stared at me like I was some sort of exhibition. I mumbled hellos and shuffled nervously. I let my hair fall to hide my face.

'So, you rich? I heard you were the granddaughter of a Lord.' I snapped my head up, as I heard this question. It came from a blonde boy stood next to Emmett. He wasn't as tall, but still towered above me, and he had a baby face with a soft jaw and blue eyes.

'Excuse me?'

'I heard your granddaddy was a Lord. They're all loaded, aren't they? That why they shipped you off over here?' He asked again, shameless. I stared at him in disbelief.

Emmett nudged him, but he just muttered 'What?' and looked back to me, waiting for a reply.

Annoyed, I sucked in my breath, 'Yes, my grandfather is a Lord. He's a Lord in Kensington and he's also my mother's father. I see him twice a year, my birthday and Christmas time, and each time he gives me an envelope full of money. Don't ask how much, because I don't know. It goes straight into my trust fund, which I don't have access to until I'm 21. That's a good 4 years away, so unless you'd like to put up with me until then in order to get your hands on my money, then will you please step aside, because I have a class to get to.'

All five boys stared back at me with wide eyes. Except Edward. He looked at me with a curious expression, his eyes narrowed and a hint of a smile on his lips. I didn't let myself look at him for too long though, not trusting my reactions.

Emmett was the first to regain composure and abruptly stepped aside, opening a path for me to pass through. I hitched my bag more securely on my shoulder and turned to Edward before I walked away, 'Thank you, Edward, for picking up my things. I'm sorry I crashed into you.'

The day got worse from there.

I was asked to introduce myself to practically the whole student body, much to my dismay. I stumbled into my English class, earning a few sniggers and laugh. Chemistry was no better, where I practically ruined the experiment, causing my partner to take over the whole as I just sat there quietly. Spanish and Trig were no better, but lunch was by far the worst hour of the day.

I followed my map again to try and the find the canteen. After 15 minutes I was debating whether or not to just follow the path back to the dorms when I found myself right outside the gymnasium. With my unbelievable bad luck, three tall, lean, blondes in cheerleader's uniforms chose that exact moment to dance out, just finished their practice, I thought to myself. The leader, I supposed, caught me standing there awkwardly and threw me a suspicious glance. I buried my head down into map again, trying to avoid their stares.

'Are you a newbie?'

The main blonde has walked over to me a couple of step and used her hands to indicate me as the 'newbie'.

'Er, yes, I'm a new student,' I replied.

She smirked, 'Ah, the English transfer. I saw you this morning… circled by the baseball team. You think you can get into their pants before you've even unpacked?'

I was shocked at her accusation. This girl didn't even know me; I didn't even know her name. I felt the anger rise within me for a second time that day, as the girl's eyes didn't leave mine as they shone with mischief.

'Their pants? Oh no, that wasn't my intention at all, I'm too jet lagged. I'm sure you're the best person to go to though for that sort of thing, so when I need advice, I'll have you in mind.'

Her eyes bulged at my response and she stiffened her posture immediately. The girls next to her giggled quietly.

'You haven't even been here five minutes, who do you think you are?' she took five deliberate steps towards me and spoke so fiercely her breathe fanned my face.

'You listen here, England. You better know your place in Everglades. You ever cross me; I'll ruin your life. I will make you beg to go back to England, and never return. Do. Not. Anger. Me.'

I looked back into her eyes quietly for a few seconds before replying, 'I'll remember that, Your Highness.'

If she were a cartoon, there'd be steam coming from her ears. I turned and quickly walked back up the path before she had chance to find something to throw at me.

I decided to skip lunch, having lost my appetite so suddenly. My last class was English Literature, which brightened up my mood by a fraction. It soon finished though, and I found myself walking back to the dorms; all the while looking out for the blonde cheerleaders and any of Edward and Emmett's friends from this morning.

My thoughts drifted back to Edward as I made my way to the furthest building down the autumnal path. His perfect green eyes, his organized mess of hair. The cheerleader had said I'd been surrounded by the baseball team. Rose had also said her boyfriend; Emmett was on the baseball team along with his friends, so of course it made sense. I suddenly had the urge to watch Edward play baseball. I wanted more than anything to see him hit the ball out of the field, as I'm sure he could, and race along the bases and score a homerun. I shook this thought off immediately though. I couldn't let myself get too attached to anybody. Anybody. Just get through this next year, Bella.

I finally got to my dorm building and swiftly got through the glass doors and in the elevator to the 7th floor. I reached into my bag to get my keys, but somehow flung them too viciously as I fished them out, and they landed right back into the elevator just as the doors closed.

'NO! Damn it, damn it, damn it!' I banged on the doors as if they'd magically open again.

'You know, all you have to do is press the button.'

I turned abruptly, shocked. I knew exactly who it was though; I wouldn't have missed that velvet voice in a crowd full of people. He stood next to me, trying to stop himself from smiling and pressed the button.

I sighed, 'I know. I somehow flung my keys back in as stepped out. I'm so stupid.' I buried my face in my hands, trying to rub away the day's stress.

'Well that's alright, I'm sure they'll still be in there when it comes back up,' he said comfortingly.

I laughed a humorless laugh, 'It's just been a very long day.'

Just then the elevator opened up again, revealing my keys on the floor. Before I had chance to grab them, Edward already bent down and picked them up, turning around and facing me with them dangling from his finger. I took them from him and was locked in his gaze as I mumbled thank you to him. I tore away and turned to open the door, before my cheeks gave me away.

'So how was your first day?' he leaned against the door frame, making no effort to leave.

'It was grand. I was asked if I was an heir to a Lord, before being asked my name. Ironically, I then had to tell my name to about 300 people throughout 6 classes, before being threatened by a cheerleader, missing my lunch and almost losing my keys to an elevator. It's been great.' I smiled a fake smile.

He grinned a arrogant smile back, 'You're telling me, that meeting me didn't brighten up your day at all?'

'Oh yes, embarrassing myself by crashing into the first person I see at Everglades really made a great impression. Perfect way to start off the year,' I shot back.

'Oh, I think you made a great impression. The baseball team were very impressed with your reply this morning. No one's ever put Mike in his place like that,' he grinned.

'Well I'm glad I had that liberty.' I pushed the key in the door, but a hand stopped me before I could turn it completely.

'Hey, I was wondering. How about I make your first day a little better? I'll take you out for something to eat.'

I stared at him in disbelief. A part of me was jumping around screaming and shouting in glee that this beautiful boys was actually asking me out. This never happened; which was exactly the reason why my rational, sane and slightly cynical part calmed me down. I couldn't let this happen. This boy had probably made his way around the entire female population of Everglades, and had wanted to make his portfolio complete with the new girl. And I refused to let myself get attached; to anybody.

'Are you joking?'

'Nope.'

I let out a breath, 'Edward, I know exactly your type. You don't want to take me out. You want to gain information about the new girl. You want to see what it's like to be with an English girl. An English 'Snob' as your friend probably thinks. I know exactly your type, and I'm not it. I'm not tall, blonde, athletic or popular. I read literature, not Vogue; I have absolutely no connections to any English royalty, despite my Grandfather's title, and I really don't want to be the subject of ridicule when I 'try my luck with Everglade's 'it' boy'.' I finished, making imaginary quotation marks in the air.

Edward stared at me speechless. I couldn't read his expression, I couldn't tell whether he was shocked at being rejected or more interested that I didn't give him that answer he expected.

He took in a deep breath and smiled, 'I've never dated a blonde, my favorite book is Pride and Prejudice, and I really hope I'm not Everglade's 'it' boy.'

I sighed. He was making this harder for me than it already was. I hated rejecting his date. This boy was everything I had ever dreamed of.

'You still don't want to take me out. Believe me. Thank you for helping me again with my keys,' I said with a hint of sadness in my voice, which made his brow knit together in confusion. I opened the door and let myself in,

'Good night, Edward.'

I closed the door behind me and groaned loudly, which I'm sure he heard.

At that moment, I hated my life.


	3. Chapter Three

**Thank you for all my new readers, and your support it really really means a lot! Here's the third chapter, Enjoy.**

_CHAPTER THREE_

The next day was better; and worse.

Nobody asked me about my billionaire Lord of a grandfather, not that I'd have much to tell them if they did. I didn't run into the three cheerleaders again, and I didn't stumble into anymore classes; for which I was very thankful for. I was, however, not left alone by a certain bronze haired boy.

I turned the corner as I headed towards my Biology class and the moment I lifted my head and met his gaze, a slow smile spread across his beautiful face. We were in the same Biology class. Obviously, my rejection last had done nothing to deter him; and a small part of me was thankful for that. He nodded towards me, and when I blushed and nodded back, his smile grew more pronounced. I didn't want to be roped into another conversation with his friends, who were all stood around him, chatting animatedly; so I ducked my head again and rushed inside the class to take my seat, ignoring the fact I was early.

Before I had taken my notebook from my bag, I heard the seat next to me being pulled out. This was my first Biology class of the term, so I still didn't know who my partner would be. I looked up and saw him for the first time.

It was the same boy who had asked about my grandfather the day before. Mike, was it? I could hardly believe my luck. Someone up in the heavens really did have it for me; making my life their own personal gag reel. Mike just grinned and sat down on the stool next to me with a comfortable thud. I just rolled my eyes and sighed as I turned back to face the board at the front of class. I was about to start doodling to myself look busy and avoided conversation as I waited for class to begin, when I heard his voice.

'Move, Newton. This is my seat this year.'

'The hell it is, man! I've already been assigned this seat, sit somewhere else,' he jutted his chin towards the other side of the room.

'No, you sit somewhere else. This is my seat this year,' there was unmistakable power in Edward's voice as he stared Mike straight in his eyes.

'Dude, what's your game?' Mike replied, in a smaller voice this time.

They looked at each other meaningfully for a minute, and it was obvious they were both thinking of some private joke between them, as a smile appeared on their faces, first on Mike, then reluctantly on Edward's, as he tried to hide it.

'Scram, Mike.'

Mike got up from his seat then, and dragged his feet over to another table, mockingly.

Edward neatly pulled out his notebook and sat on the stool. He searched his bag again for something before turning to me, as if he'd only just seen me there, flashing a smile.

'Hey.'

'Hi...?' My greeting came out as a question. He chuckled and continued to search in his bag, and curiosity got the better of me, 'What was that?'

'What was what?' he asked, without looking up from his search.

'Sending Mike away... Why do you want to sit here?'

'Oh,' he finally finished and dropped his bag, and turned to face me with a serious look on his perfect face, 'Well, the acoustics are much better on this side of the room, and I get less glare from the sunlight on the smart board; not to mention being out of the way of the draft,' he paused, 'Of course, it had nothing to do with sitting with you.'

I was stunned for a moment, speechless. I forced myself to recover though and rolled my eyes, feigning indifference at his remark. I heard him laugh beside me, and reached his hand over, opening his hand as I noticed he was holding something in it.

'I think this is yours.'

Inside his hand lay a tiny diamond earring which hung from an ornate silver ball, decoratively carved with antique swirls and patterns. I immediately recognised my grandmother's earring which normal hung from my own ear. I gasped and my hand flew to my ear, realising for the first time that it was empty.

'Oh my gosh, I didn't even notice it had fallen! Thank you so much, where did you find it?' I asked as I took it from his hand and stuck it through my ear once again.

'It was in the corner of the elevator. I figured it fell when you dropped your keys.'

'Thank goodness I've not lost it, they were my Grandmother's.'

'Are they pretty pricey then?'

'Is that all you American's think about; Money?' I shot back at him, a little harsher than I wanted to.

'No, I didn't mean that. I just meant they must be priceless to you, especially if they're antiques,' he looked shocked and hurt that I'd think he was shallow.

I replied with a calmer voice this time, 'Well, they could have cost 50 pence and I still couldn't bear to lose them.'

There was silence between us for a while then, as the teacher stepped in class and began explaining the New Year's targets and topics. I was so thankful that he'd forgotten that he had a new student and never asked me to introduce myself. We were given a practical task to do, and were sent off to complete it for the rest of the class. Edward immediately turned to face me and said, 'You ready, partner?'

I groaned and pushed the sample slices and the microscope towards him. He laughed, but took them, fixing the first slide in.

'So, you have a nice evening last night?' He glanced at me through his lashes, and smiled.

'It was grand, thank you. I spent the night cleaning out all the shampoo that had leaked in the bottom of my suitcase.' I grimaced at the memory. It had most definitely ruined at least 3 of my tops.

'Ouch, well I'm sure had some better offers, didn't you?' He winked at me mischievously.

I decided to play along with him, 'Not really. A guy asked if I'd like to go to dinner with him... But I'd only met him that day, and I'm pretty sure he followed me to my dorm. I didn't get very good vibes from him,' I played with my hair, idly.

He didn't pause, and raised an eyebrow, 'I see... I think he sounds like a helpful guy. Was he not helpful to you?'

I smiled and softened a little, 'Yes, he was very helpful throughout the day. He helped me find my keys, and gathered my things when I crashed into him.'

He laughed then, 'There you go! He sounds like a great guy! I think you were a little too hard on him. Besides, it would have been better than cleaning out shampoo.'

I remembered the night before as I defiantly turned down his dinner offer. It was going against every female hormone in my body as I said no to the perfect figure of a man that millions of girls dream of. It wasn't often that as asked out; scrap that, I was never asked out. Maybe it was because the boys in London had seen me grow up, but they never even showed slightest interest. Which I was grateful for. It made it easier for me to keep a distance; to stop myself getting too attached to anyone. I definitely couldn't afford to grow too close; not in the condition I was in. This thought reminded me why I had said no to Edward and my smile faded. I couldn't and wouldn't let myself get too close to him; even if it was for the wrong reasons. I turned my face from Edward and sighed sadly, 'Yeah it probably would have been.'

He raised his head and cocked it to the side, trying to read my expression. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the teacher. We didn't get chance to talk again for the rest of the class.

Spanish and English flew by and before long it was time for lunch. After studying my map last night, I had memorised a route from my last class to the canteen and managed to get there in one piece. I wasn't hungry though, and settled with just an apple.

I was rolling it around in my palms while I waited in the queue to pay, idly staring off into the distance.

'That's not very nutritional for a lunch.'

I jumped at his voice, and spun round to see him standing behind me. I looked down and saw that he had a salad box in his hands, waiting to pay like me.

'It's one of my five a day, Doctor,' I stressed the last word.

'Yes, but not nearly enough to get you through the rest of the day. You'll waste away,' he replied, faking the voice of a concerned parent. He reminded me of my parents.

'I think I'll survive.' I turned my back to him then.

'You know, I could offer you a much better dinner - nutrition wise, I mean. I know a great place. It would make up for your terrible lunch,' he leaned forward to speak closer to my ear and his breath tickled the back of my neck, causing me to shiver. I'm sure he didn't miss that.

It took me a second to be able to answer him, but I willed with everything I had in me to regain composure. I couldn't let somebody have this kind of power of me, I wouldn't let him.

'Have you not given up yet?' I put as much power into my voice as possible.

'Of course not, Miss. Swan. I'm not a quitter,' His breath still tickled my neck. He definitely knew what it did to me, 'You should probably remember that.'

Remember what? I couldn't remember what he'd said before. Suddenly the lady at the till shouted 'Next!' indicating that it was my turn to pay.

I numbly stepped forward and reached my hand into my pocket to fish out the dollar to pay for my apple. Edward's hand flashed before me and handed a 20 to the lady.

'For the apple and my salad. Keep the change.'

He stepped around me and stood on the other side, out of the queue, a smile playing on his perfect lips. He looked at me for a moment before asking, 'Are you coming to sit down?'

I had to pull myself together. This boy was pulling apart every gate and wall I'd built around myself for the past 2 years, after only knowing him for 24 hours. A scary thought rushed through my mind as I had a vision of him finding out my secret and my whole world crashing down around me as he'd realize his mistake; but it would have already been too late for me. My barriers would have been pulled down, and there'd be no way I could bring them back up alone.

Edward watched me as my mind fluttered with panic and I took a deep breath trying to steady myself. My head started swimming, and I must have swayed because he reached out his arm and grabbed mine to keep me from falling.

'Whoa, are you okay?' his voice was thick with concern.

'It's. It's just my... blood pressure..' I tried to deliver my well practised lie, but somehow failed as I tried to regain my balance. Edward pulled me securely to the edge of the cafeteria, where the fire door was propped open, letting a cool breeze in. It immediately helped to clear my head and I took another deep breath.

'You should definitely eat something now,' he said softly, but with definite certainty.

'No, really I'm fine, it happens all the time.'

'Bella,' he crouched down slightly, to meet my level and looked into my eyes intently. I could feel my insides start to skip again. My head started to swim again.

'It's worrying if this happens all the time. Let me take you back to your dorm at least, if you're not going to eat.'

I couldn't tear away from his gaze. I could see through his emerald eyes and deep within. His stare made me think that he could see through me too. It took me 20 seconds to realize my vision was getting worse, and I had to leave him.

'I cant – I have to go, let me go,' I pushed his grip from my shoulders and pulled away. I turned to walk out the fire door but his voice was right behind me. God, this boy really doesn't give up.

'Bella! Bella, wait – just wait a second!' he grabbed my elbow and spun me around with enough force to stop me in my tracks and face him.

'What's going on? What's wrong?' his eyes roamed my face as his brow knit together furiously in concern. He really wasn't making this easy for me, if only he knew why I was acting this way. Why I couldn't let him get in too deep.

'What are you doing, Edward?' I said with as much strength as I could muster.

'I'm trying to make sure you're not going to pass out when you're alone!' he said loudly, exasperated.

'No! I mean what are you doing with me? Why won't you quit?!' I shouted back, 'Edward, all I am is a shiny new toy for you to play with! I promise, you'll get bored sooner than you think!'

He paused for a second before answering, 'If you really want me to quit, Bella then just say it and I'll leave you alone.'

The sadness in his voice made me catch my breath and traitor tears threatened to spill out. I took a few breathes to steady myself, not once leaving his intense gaze. He still had hold of my arm and his grip tightened slightly when he noticed my watery eyes.

'I can't,' I whispered. His face relaxed minutely in relief. 'But I can't get involved; with anyone; especially not you.' I could barely hear my own voice.

Confusion swept across his face once again, 'Why?' He changed his stance and lightly took hold of my other arm as he now stood directly in front of me. His eyes were getting too much for me to bear, as he said in the softest voice, 'what are you hiding, Bella?'

I was shocked; I knew this boy could see straight through me. I started to panic and get breathless again as realization hit me that my barriers hadn't been enough, somebody had seen through them. He knew I had a secret.

'Please, don't do this,' I pleaded with him.

He stayed silent as he continued to read my expression, and I took that chance to slip my arms away from his grip. I backed up and tested my balance. He stepped back to give me some room, his eyes never leaving mine. After I proved to myself I could walk, and risked another look at his face.

His eyes were still locked on me, as the emerald green was a tiny bit duller in his serious concentration. I couldn't say anything else to him, without spilling everything I worked so hard to keep to myself. I didn't understand this power he had over me, it didn't make sense. I opened my mouth to at least say goodbye, but nothing came out. I turned and left.

I sat on my bed, trying to understand what had happened today. Edward Cullen was doing something to my insides, and I wasn't sure whether I understood it; whether I liked it or whether it was even safe for me.

Rosalie came in a few hours after, gushing about a dozen roses that Emmett had delivered for her. It was some sort of anniversary for them, but I didn't listen enough to find out what. She left after a little while and I thought she'd gone out for dinner when the dorm was too silent.

I lay back on the bed and tried to sort through everything. I must have fallen asleep at some point because a light knock at the door made my eyes fly open. I looked over at the clock which said 8:32.

I rose from bed, thinking Rose had forgotten her. It almost knocked all the breath out of me when I saw who was standing on the other side.

I had never paid attention to what he wore before. I had been too preoccupied with his face. I looked now, and saw he wore dark skinny jeans, but not the type that left nothing to the imagination. They were comfortably baggy in the right places, which looked perfect on his long legs. My eyes roamed up to his white polo shirt which had his baseball team's name printed across his heart. His hair was as unruly as ever, and it looked slightly damp. He stood with his shoulder leaned against the door frame and he had at least 5 pizza boxes in his hand with various tubs and boxes sitting on top. I finally looked into his eyes questioningly.

A smile which was fast becoming my favourite played across his lips, 'I thought if you won't go out for food with me, then food with me will go to you.'

I let out a long sigh, and rolled my head back to stare at the ceiling. I thought of the cruel games the gods loved to play with me. This was definitely a new one for them.

'I might as well please you, almighty,' I mumbled.

'What? Are you actually agreeing?' Edward's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

I looked back at him; he looked like a little boy who'd been given a hundred Christmas presents early.

'Well, that pizza will get cold if I stand here and argue with you, won't it?'

His smile finally broke through and I swear it lit up the whole room.

**Pleeaase review and tell me what you think **


	4. Chapter Four

_**I'm so sorry for the very late update, I know it's no excuse, but it was my birthday weekend and so I was a little bit busy! I'm back into things now, so I promise I won't be so late again. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews, they really do help me so much when writing. So keep them coming, please!**_

_**Enjoy Chapter Four!**_

_CHAPTER FOUR_

It had been a… weird first week at Everglades Academy for me. I discovered that I wasn't going to have to work too hard to keep my grades up as a lot of the syllabus was the same as my old school, and I'd been ahead of the class there, thanks to my non-existent social life. I had surprisingly found myself a job on campus to earn some extra money. It was in a hair salon about a 20 minutes walk away from the main school buildings. I had never been able to imagine myself working with hair and making people look beautiful; after all, I couldn't do it for myself. But when I saw the vacancy sign in the window, something urged me to go in and at least ask. It smelt of bleach and hairspray when I stepped in, but I was greeted by a friendly smile. I was offered the part time job immediately, seeing as they'd had no other applicants in the last 3 months. It was agreed that I was to work Fridays and Saturdays, as receptionist; so I was happy I wouldn't have to deal with the hair. After my first two days, I had somewhat gotten to know the other girls who worked there; Naomi, being the party animal was already gushing about some new drama in her life, along with her best friend Laura. I quickly learned not to comment, but I enjoyed listening to their stories.

It was common for me and I knew nothing remotely nice would last for me; ever, and on my second day I realised that the cheerleader who had threatened me on my first day also worked there.

She strolled in casually a half hour after the salon opened and did a double take when she saw me sitting behind the desk.

"What are _you _doing in here?" she sneered.

I smiled automatically and said in my most professional voice, "Good Morning. I'm Bella, your new receptionist at Hair Eden," holding out my hand.

She glared at it and her mouth fell open, "Lauren! You hired a receptionist?!"

Lauren appeared from the mixing room with a colour bowl in hand and sighed, clearly exasperated, "Yes, Tanya, I did," So her name was Tanya. "And despite what you may think, as the owner I don't need to run that decision by one of my apprentices. Which you won't be for much longer if you carry on being so late! Get to work!" And with that, Lauren stormed back into the mixing room.

I looked back to Tanya, who was now glaring at me. She leaned forward across the desk and lowered her voice, "Just remember, England. Do not anger me," she repeated.

I smiled in return and clicked on her name to enter that she had arrived late.

I crashed onto my bed, remembering the events of my first week here. Of course, the most important one was still burned into my mind and I was having trouble not thinking about it.

Edward sat on the floor of my dorm until 12.30 that night, as we both ate pizza and dipped the potato wedges into the sauce. I couldn't remember the last time I had been so nervous, but I surprised myself by enjoying the evening.

'Of course you'd enjoy the evening,' I scoffed as I thought to myself.

It was everything I had hoped for ever since I was a little girl. Edward was beautiful, talented, popular and oh so hot. I had trouble keeping my eyes off him while we ate, and stole glances from time to time. He wasn't just appealing on the outside though, as I found out that night.

He asked me about my life in England, and whether I missed it. His questions ranged from meaningless to deeper, like what my first pet was to whether it bothered me that I was part of a Lord's family. I explained to him that I really didn't see my grandfather at all, and despite having a privileged life, I pretty much lived like everyone else.

"Well, doesn't that bother you more?" he asked.

"What? Having a privileged life? I don't think that would really bother anyone..."

"No," he smiled, "I meant not seeing your grandfather. Are you not close to your family?" He eyed me curiously, and I felt myself tense up straight away as I cast my eyes down towards my lap and played with the pizza box. I was going to lie and change the subject but my mouth didn't listen and carried on in a small voice,

"I used to be, with my parents. Until about a year ago."

"Why?" he set down his drink and I could feel him staring at me, "What happened?"

I immediately regretted saying too much. What was wrong with me? I'd never had this problem with anyone else before.

"We just drifted apart, I guess," I replied, hoping he wouldn't press any further.

He didn't seem satisfied though, "You don't just drift apart from your parents. Something have changed; been lost to alter your relationship."

Nothing was lost; it was what I gained that was the problem. I continued to stare at my lap and couldn't find any words to reply to him.

He sighed finally, "That's okay, and I didn't mean to pry."

When I looked over at him, he'd returned to eating his slice and smiled at me. Glad that the conversation had turned I asked him, "What about you? Tell me about your life."

He told me how he was born and raised in Florida, and started to attend Everglades Academy during middle school, with his sister, Alice. His parents sent him to live in the dorms in the hopes that he'd learn some independence, and it had worked, so he said. But he sometimes travelled the short drive home to see them.

I smiled as I remembered my evening with him. It had been nothing more but pizza between friends, but I couldn't deny that Edward did something to my insides. I looked at the clock on my bedside table and groaned when I realized I had only 10 minutes before I had to head out again. There was an extracurricular class on tonight for English, and I wanted the extra credit. I hurled myself off the bed and made my way there.

After an hour and a half of Mr Banner's droning voice I couldn't take anymore and internally thanked myself for sitting so close to the exit. I silently gathered my things and slipped out without anyone noticing.

It was getting close to sunset and the slight breeze made me shiver, so I stopped to pull my sweater out of my bag and slip it on. My head hadn't popped out the top yet when I heard that velvet voice shout my name.

"Bella!"

I pulled the sweater down over my head and turned to see him striding across the green towards me. His hair was slightly damp and he was wearing his baseball uniform, so he'd just finished a practice. He looked amazing as always.

"Hi," I smiled to him.

"What are you doing here, classes finished hours ago," he said as he finally reached me. He was close enough now that I could smell his aftershave. It smelt amazing.

"There was an extra credit lecture that I wanted to catch, but it was just too boring. I had to slip out early."

He laughed and nodded in understanding. "Well, you got plans now?"

I paused and thought, before I replied cautiously, "No… Why?"

He paused too, and thought about something, a smile growing on his lips, "Come with me? I want to show you something."

He said it in a question, leaving the decision completely up to me. I couldn't resist his smile and outstretched hand though, and although I knew I would regret and kick myself about this later, I took it and he pulled me along to the car park. I vaguely heard a voice screaming in my head that my walls were falling down, but I chose to ignore it the moment he turned and held his passenger door open for me. I climbed in, smelling the clean leather seats. His car was a sleek, black, sporty yet compact Audi; clearly the most expensive in the whole car park.

During the ride, he asked some more questions and congratulated me when I said I'd gotten the job as receptionist in the Salon.

"I'll have to finally get a haircut now," he winked, but I secretly wished he wouldn't touch his wild mess of a hair-do, it looked amazing just as it was.

After driving for 25 minutes he finally slowed down and parked in front of some trees. Confused, I looked over to see him smiling at my expression.

"You brought me to the woods?"

"No, it's past the trees," he turned and quickly got out the car, and I followed suit. I walked along behind him as he led the way through the trees and after walking for only a few minutes, the woodland stopped and we came out onto a perfectly secluded beach. I knew we were near Biscayne Bay, but this part of the beach was totally enclosed in the tree and woodland, cutting it off the rest of shore.

"This is beautiful," I whispered. I could see him looking at me in my peripheral vision, and I knew he was gauging my reaction.

"It's pretty cool, isn't it? Hardly anyone knows about this place." He walked ahead closer to the water and sat down just far enough for the ocean not to touch his feet. I followed behind and sat to his left. He pulled out a beer from his gym bag and popped the top off before offering it to me. I raised my eyebrows at him,

"Isn't the drinking age 21 in America?"

He laughed, "Come on, you don't break the rules in London?"

"Rules? Yes. Not so much the laws..." I took the beer from him anyway, suddenly wanting the cool liquid. He pulled out another one for himself and for a while we didn't talk. We simply sat and watched the waves and heard the sounds of the water. It was nice. I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had felt so peaceful. For the last two years all I had felt 24/7 was panic and stress; always feigning that I was okay, trying to pretend to the world that I was normal.

"Bella?"

I jumped as Edward pulled me out of my thoughts, "Oh, I'm sorry, what?"

He chuckled, "Jeez, what were you thinking about?"

I looked down and took another swig of my beer, "Nothing."

"You're a bit of an epiphany to me, you know Bella."

I looked at him. This was the second time he'd managed to surprise me by seeing straight through me. I was careful not to give too much of my emotions away, but somehow how saw them; maybe he was guessing but he was awfully close to the truth.

"What?" I breathed.

He shifted so that he was facing me and his emerald eyes bore straight into mine. It was really difficult to leave his stare, and to breathe right.

"You're not like other girls. Yeah, you're smart and pretty and everyone thinks you're a snob because you're from London," he said this with a smile –

Did he just say I was pretty? –

"But you're not." My insides fell – so I wasn't pretty?

"I'm not what?"

"You're not a snob. I can't see you being a snob." I relaxed a little. He was still staring into my eyes and his mouth was so close and I could just about feel his breathing.

"That's not it though. I'm willing to bet that there's much more of you that you don't let anyone else see," he leaned in even closer, block some more of the setting sunlight, "It's like there's a battle going on inside you all day, every day. I can see it in your face when you're trying to decide what to say to me; when you're deciding what the best way to hide from me is," impossibly, he came in even closer; his lips were less than an inch away from mine and my breathing had completely stopped. He whispered, "what are you hiding, Bella?"

This was the second time he's asked me this question. A voice that I'd come to loath started screaming in my head so that I couldn't hear anything else. It was screaming alarm bells and warning sounds. But this was unchartered territory; I had never been here before where everything could fall apart with just one word and I hated it. I hated that one boy could ruin everything I had worked to build. I started to feel light headed and dizzy, and I could feel a panic attack coming.

"I can't breathe," I whispered.

Edward leaned back immediately, steadying me by holding my shoulders. I knew I was swaying when the ocean seemed to rise impossibly high and wash to the left. I sighed deeply and put my head in between my knees.

After a minute, I heard Edward say, "You're good, I'll give you that."

I raised my head and looked at him. His expression was hard to read, but I thought I saw something there. It was like he was trying to provoke me; to get me angry.

It was working.

"What are you doing, Edward? What game are you playing?" I worked to keep my voice even.

His smiles faltered a little, as if he'd been caught, "I'm not playing a game, Bella. I'm trying my hardest to get you, but you make it so damn hard." His smile was completely gone now.

"There's nothing to get; I'm just a girl from London and that's it; nothing else. I'm actually pretty bor–"

"No, that's not it," he interrupted, "There's more to you, and something you don't let show through."

"Why do you want to know? What difference does it make to you if you knew?" I regretted it as soon as it slipped out. Now he knew I was hiding something. I internally kicked myself; hard.

And sure enough, his eyes flashed as I admitted that I was keeping a secret.

"Because I think I'm the only one who's cared enough to look for it," he whispered, and my breath got caught in my throat. He'd leaned forward again and his lips were so close, I could feel his breath fan on my face. I was frozen and my muscles were locked in place. He fell forward slowly and his lips brushed against mine for the briefest second. My eyes shut and all I could feel was him. My hands started to move without permission and I felt them travel up his arms and onto his shoulders. His lips twitched against mine and landed on them again but this time with more force. His arms suddenly were on my waist, squeezing gently. My fingers tangled in his hair as our mouths moved together.

Something clicked in my mind just then, and I pulled away abruptly. I could tell I startled Edward because he looked back at me, dazed, for a second before he composed himself and leaned back, looking at me with a calculated expression.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," I whispered.

"It's really, okay," he smiled his dazzling smile and I felt okay. It was strange.

I caught my breath, and turned back to stare out into the ocean. Thankfully, the awkwardness didn't last for long. Edward's twenty questions started again and he fired them out one by one. It was as if nothing had happened.

We continued the game for the rest of the evening, and when it turned 10pm Edward drove me back to campus and even walked me to my dorm. He was leaning against my door frame, and I couldn't bring myself to put the key in the lock, so I just played with it in my hands.

"So, are you still going to give me a hard time when I ask you to hang out?" he said quietly.

"Do you still want to hang out with me?" I countered.

He paused only to smile, "Obviously, I won't rest until I pull this big scandalous secret from you." My smile vanished, but his only widened, "Relax, I want to hang out with you, because I like you."

I managed to smile a little at that because my girlie side finally registered that this beautiful boy liked me. He's just said it in those exact words. Oh my god; he liked me.

"Okay, I won't be so difficult. But only because you put it so nicely," I mumbled.

"Great. Movie's tomorrow then?" He cocked his head to the side and he reminded me of a cheeky little boy.

"You waste no time do you?" he raised his eyebrow, reminding me of what I'd just agreed to. I sighed, "Okay, okay. What time?"

"Come by to the baseball grounds after your last class, we can go straight after my practise."

"Okay." I finally turned the lock and opened the door. I paused though, and I wasn't sure why. I turned back to Edward and quickly placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. Bye Edward."

Blushing, I rushed inside.

It took a long time to control my breathing and cool down the embarrassing heat on my face.

This was going way out of my control. How was I letting this happen? I had vehemently promised myself time and time again that I would not let anyone in. Not because I couldn't handle it, which I was sure I couldn't; but because it wouldn't be fair on them. I knew myself, if there was anybody I wanted to get close to, it would because I cared for them, and if I cared for them it would be exactly the reason why it wouldn't be fair to trap them this way; to trap them in a way that we couldn't get out of. I was a ticking time bomb, with no way of stopping it.

I scoffed at my inner ramblings. I bet I sounded insane.

Edward Cullen was slowly making me insane.

_**Does anyone have any ideas as to what Bella is hiding? Well things will get more complicated before they become clear...**_

_**Throw me a review! X**_


	5. Chapter Five

**Okay, my lovelies! In order to make up for being so late with the last chapter, and to say thank you to all the wonderful people following, and favoriting and reviewing Undisclosed, here's Chapter 5! I've been writing all day, so I could get this out to you! It's my favorite chapter so far, so please tell me what you all think!**

_CHAPTER FIVE _

Going to the movies with Edward was the funniest, most romantic thing I'd ever done. He let me choose which film to watch and I decided to test him. I immediately showed interest in the brand new action packed super hero film; but when a sneaked a glance at Edward he seemed to be concentrating completely on the ice creams in front of him. Instead of replying to me, he asked which my favorite flavor was. I told him it was cookie dough and he turned to face me with quiet awe shining in his eyes.

"Me too," he said. He smirked to himself as he ordered two tubs of the cookie dough. I turned back to the film board and pretending to really want to see the latest, cheesiest romantic comedy that even the name made me cringe at. Edward, however, was completely un-phased by my choice and simply nodded in agreement as he took the ice cream from the counter.

"Sure," he said. I looked for some sort of disgust in his face, anything; which should have been there in any teenage boy's face. Nothing. He looked back at me with genuine interest. Unbelievable. I started to laugh and his brow furrowed in confusion.

"I would never put you through that," I explained. He just smiled and looked back at the board, waiting for me to make my decision.

We ended up watching a horror movie. It was cliché, I know; but it was really the only thing I wanted to watch. Edward said that Emmett recommended it too, and so it was settled.

The film made me jump… and I only screamed a couple of times. I kept stealing glances at Edward to my right and every time he was either watching me for my reaction or staring off looking like his thoughts were a million miles away.

"Don't you like the movie?" I whispered.

He looked confused for a second, "What? Yeah, it's good. Why?"

"You don't really seem into it. We can go if you're bored…" I offered.

He searched my eyes, and I wondered what he was looking for, "No, of course not. I'm just going to get some more drinks; you want some?"

"Yeah, Sprite please," I handed him my empty cup.

The second he was gone, I wanted him back. Not for the obvious reason of having a beautiful boy sat next me in the movie theatre, but because I suddenly felt cold without his warm body sitting by me. A greasy boy who I thought I recognized from school smiled at me from 5 seats across as soon as Edward left and I averted my gaze immediately. I was pretty sure the boy had come here alone.

Edward came back not long after though, and I was complete immersed in the movie and so I screamed when he pressed the cold soda cup against my hand, nearly knocking it over.

"Oh god, I'm sorry!" I whispered.

He chuckled, his eyes wide, "its okay. I whispered your name before I sat down, but you were really into the movie," he rolled his eyes and tucked my cup securely into the holder.

After the movie we strolled along the boardwalk as the sun was getting ready to set. He continued to ask me questions about my life, and I thought that I'd told him everything I possibly could about my life.

Almost everything.

He, in turn, told me a lot about his life; from his thoughts on his first grade teacher, to every one of his pet's names. It was so easy to talk to him, I felt like I could do it forever. It baffled me every time he waited patiently for answers to his questions that this stunning boy; this popular, amazing guy, was actually interested in me. It didn't make sense; but I was so content in the thought, that I decided to just go with it. I knew something would turn drastically at some point, but I allowed myself this brief time of pleasure even though I knew it would be just that; brief.

After our movie night, we had more movie nights at our dorms. He had a great DVD collection and we took turns choosing.

I sat up straight in bed when a strange screeching began right next to my ear. I blinked through my sleepy haze until I finally realized the sound was my alarm clock. It had never made this noise before though?

"I changed it. This is obviously much more effective."

I turned to see Rose stood in my doorway, leaning casually against the frame with her arms folded.

"What? It's always been effective," I rubbed my eyes sleepily.

"Come on, Bella. You were 15 minutes late to your class yesterday. I don't want you to get a bad punctuality reputation, they take it really seriously here," she replied casually.

Her concern really touched me. No one had ever done something like that for me, and I felt an embarrassing lump start to form in my throat.

"Thank you, Rosalie," I managed to whisper back.

I think she saw my emotion and she shifted awkwardly, "Okay, well… come on. Get ready, we leave in 20 minutes!"

With that, she left me alone to get ready.

The day started off like any other. I worked the morning at the hair salon and actually enjoyed myself as I returned every one of Tanya's evil glares with a sweeter than sugar smile which seemed to just anger her more.

It had been roughly 3 months since I started at Everglades Academy. Unfortunately the only friends I had made were Edward and Rosalie. The rest of the student body seemed to either ignore me, or think I was some sort of English prude. Emmett, Rose's boyfriend, and Edward's friend seemed to be the only one who would sometimes say hello, and I even caught him waving at me, smiling. None of this seemed to matter though, when I remembered how close Edward and I gotten. He'd never kissed me again after that time at the beach; but we had gotten pretty close to it a few times. Every time my heart had gone into overdrive I'd strategically pulled away, always having to deal with my heart ripping into shreds whenever I thought about what I pulled away from. It was hard.

Edward and I had had countless movie nights in our dorms, ordering pizza or Italian food and sometimes Chinese. He had asked about my 'secret' again a few times but, proving to be perfect again and again, he always changed the subject when he saw how I became uncomfortable. It was at those points when my stupidity would become apparent to me. I was getting in deeper and deeper and I couldn't even stop myself because I knew I wasn't strong enough. One part of me said that it was worth it, because I knew nobody remotely as perfect and gorgeous as Edward Cullen would ever be interested in me again. Another part of me however, told me the after effects would surely break me. I would not be able to recover from Edward Cullen once this was all over; as I knew 100% it would be. I knew at one point it would all end; when everything inevitably would come crashing down around me.

And I was right.

It happened one day during lunch hour.

I sat at my usual table and started flicking through my English assignments, reading through what I'd already written. I ate my salad as my gaze flicked from each group of pupils sat all around the cafeteria. Everyone each in their own friendship groups and it reminded me of the film Mean Girls, as I could clearly see each stereotype of teenager sat milling around, chatting animatedly. It reminded me of my old school, too. I also used to sit alone in there.

I laughed at my own joke quietly.

"You laughing to yourself?" Edward's voice suddenly pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see him sitting down opposite me with his own tray of food, "You know, they say that's the first sign of insanity."

I smiled, "I knew it," I mumbled.

He smiled back, and our daily conversation began instantly. I loved how easily we could begin conversations and how effortless it was for us. We could talk for hours and I'd never tired of his beautiful velvet voice. How he'd look up at me through his long lashes and search my eyes as he'd wait for my answer to his questions. I loved the way his lips would curl upwards when he'd smirk at something I'd say, and how he'd run his hand through his hair to try and tame it; it would never work.

I'd finished my salad and was flicking through my books again while I tested Edward on his Shakespeare facts. It surprised me how much he actually knew.

"Never took you as a Shakespeare fan," I mused.

He chuckled, "Yeah, I even tried out for Romeo one year."

"Really?!"

He looked back at me with a blank expression, "No, Bella." He burst out laughing and I couldn't help but laugh with him.

"What's the joke? Other than the obvious…"

We both looked up to see Mike, the boy who asked me about my grandfather on my first day here, standing next to our table looking at the pair of us… disgustedly?

Edward's face suddenly dropped and any trace of humor was instantly gone. There was tension at our table suddenly, and I wanted Mike to leave.

"Nothing, get lost Mike," Edward mumbled, rudely.

Mike was un–phased though, "The guys are here, come on we need to talk game plan."

"I'll catch up with you later; I don't feel like talking Baseball now." Edward kept his eyes on the table.

"Dude, we can't do this 'later'," Mike mimicked Edward's voice, using his fingers as imaginary quotation marks, "the game is this weekend, your head's not in it at all!" It was obvious Mike was annoyed, his voice was rising slowly.

"I said, I'll catch up later," Edward raised his head, and tried to communicate something to Mike with his eyes. They briefly flickered to me, which was a mistake. Mike caught this and I swear I could see steam rise from his head.

"Really, Edward? You gonna stay with Miss London Snob? We have a game to plan," Mike said the last sentence slowly, as if trying to talk to a toddler. His nickname for me wasn't surprising, or original; I'd hear this from others before.

"Don't you dare, Mike," I jumped as Edward's voice was raised and he sat up a little straighter.

Mike stared back in shock. I grew slightly worried over how quickly their argument was escalating, but decided it was best to keep my mouth shut.

"You're taking it too far, Edward. You already have-" Edward interrupted Mike by standing up and looking him straight in the eye. Mike was at least two inches shorter than Edward, but his anger didn't fade.

"Leave, now Mike," Although I couldn't fully see Edward's face, his voice was more menacing than I'd ever heard it.

Although Edward's threatening stance and tone wasn't enough to stop Mike from saying his next words,

"Too far, Edward. You obviously didn't get the bet. You were supposed to break her; not date her."

Realization hit me then. It physically felt like a ton of bricks that hit me right then.

Everything in the cafeteria wasn't quiet, and a few silent gasps were heard. Edward didn't even look at me. He just dropped his gaze and stood still, motionless. I looked around at each person's face, trying to take it all in. Emmett looked at me shyly, as if bracing himself for the moment I'd explode. Mike was staring back at me, pure hatred in his face. A few other boys stood with them shifted their gaze nervously from mine to Edward's to Mike's, unsure of what was going to happen next. I quickly scanned the rest of the cafeteria, and I saw Rose stood by the double doors, her brow furrowed in confusion. I looked back to Edward; he was still looking at the floor, his arms hung limply at his sides, and it looked like he was trying to control his breathing.

"Come on, Ed. Tell her. She deserves to know; don't you think?" Mike carried on, his voice dripping with falseness, clearly provoking Edward.

My eyes never left Edward's face as he slowly turned and finally looked back at me. It was a moment of deafening silence as we looked at each other and my words slipped out without permission.

"Is it true?"

I can see the answer in his eyes, there was no need to ask it. But his silence as the seconds ticked by confirmed it for me.

I drew in an uneven breath and looked down, trying to gather my head which was now swimming. Without thinking, or wanting to look at anything or anyone; I slowly pulled my book into my bag and rose, turning around and leaving as casually as I could. I couldn't believe myself, after all this I was still trying to prove to everyone stood there that I was un-phased; that I was unaffected by this when clearly I had just been torn apart from the inside out.

Just before I turned completely, I saw Edward snap. He leapt forward and pushed Mike out of the way, shouting my name.

I couldn't hear him though, I walked faster and faster until I was almost running, slamming the doors open and trying to breathe in the fresh air to clear my head, but it just caught in my throat and the tears that were trapped in my eyes spilled out, violently. When I reached the edge of the sports grounds I couldn't go any further. I stopped and doubled over. I couldn't breathe; I gasped for air but couldn't find anything.

It was a lie. Everything had been fake; right from the very first second when he asked me to go to dinner. I knew this thing I had with Edward wouldn't last; but I didn't think life would be so cruel as to hit me in the gut like this.

It had all been a bet, I realized with a sinking feeling in my stomach that was threatening to pull me right under.

'_Hey, I was wondering. How about I make your first day a little better? I'll take you out for something to eat.'_

Lies.

I remembered his smile when I finally agreed to hang out with him.

Fake.

"_What are you doing, Edward? What game are you playing?" _I had asked him.

_His smile faltered a little, as if he'd been caught._

He thought he'd been caught. He thought for a split second that I'd figured out the game he had going on with his baseball friends.

"_You were supposed to break her; not date her."_

Mike's word screamed through my head as I leaned over and gasped for air. Everything was a set up; Edward had played me all along just for a bit of fun with his friends. I felt I was going to be sick. The ringing in my ears was so loud that I didn't hear Edward's voice shouting my name, and I didn't hear it become louder as he came nearer to me. I felt his touch, however, when he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me up. His touch sent a surge of unexpected anger through me, though and I stood up immediately, shaking off his hand violently.

"Don't touch me!" I shouted.

"Bella, just let me explain," he began; he didn't let go of his grip on my arm and pushed against his chest as hard as I could.

"Don't touch me, Edward!" I shouted, louder. He grabbed my other hand and instantly stopped my attack on him as I knew his strength was much greater than mine.

"Bella!"

"Explain?" as quickly as the anger had built in me, it faded away and my voice sounded pathetic as the tears ran freely. I hated being so vulnerable in front of someone, especially Edward.

"Explain what Edward? How everything was a lie? How you set everything between us up for the sake of a bet? How you made me believe that the first person in my life I felt comfortable with was all the while…" I stopped as a sob tore through my throat.

Edward stood motionless in front of me. His beautiful face was blank as he just watched me break apart. I hung my head in defeat as he kept his hold on my forearms.

"I… I really thought… I let every guard down and you… you just didn't care, did you?" I knew my ramblings made no sense and I just turned my head away. I pulled my arms, trying to get out of his grip and he let me this time. I leaned down and numbly picked up my bag, holding on to the fence for support.

"Bella, I didn't mean for you to find out this way. I swear it didn't think that what happened would happen. I didn't… see it turning out this way…"

I couldn't see his face but I could hear something in his voice. Regret. Regret that he was caught. I didn't turn around because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle looking at his green eyes; I whispered, knowing he would hear me,

"Well, Edward; this wasn't ideal. But my heart had to be trampled on one way or another, right? It was only a matter of time."

…

**Please review, review, REVIEW! **


	6. Chapter Six

**Again, I can't apologize enough for being so late. Life has been so hectic lately. I promise though that I will not give up on this story! So please don't give up on me, I will not for any reason stop writing!**

**Thank you so much for all your follows, favorites and reviews! Please please keep them coming, they are so motivating. **

**Just a side note; this story is rated M and not T. **

_CHAPTER 6_

Have you ever woken up in the morning, from a wonderful dream, and you do everything in your power at that sleepy state in order to go back to sleep and continue the dream?

You ignore every sound and sight around you and cling to the strands of what you remember. You cling to it for dear life, trying to make it last longer and until you finally fall back into unconsciousness.

More often than not, however, you end up sleeping dreamlessly; and then you're late.

It's a little worse when this is your life.

At first I never saw everyone's stares and glances; the silence that seemed to follow me around the halls of the school. Even Rosalie would dodge me, and I hardly saw her. A whole week had passed and I honestly couldn't tell you a single word that had been said in classes or throughout any day. Work was torturous. The girls had obviously heard about what had happened and they all gave me silent, pitiful glances; all except one.

Tanya didn't give me pity, or sad looks. Every time my eyes caught hers, a wide smirk would appear on her face; mocking me. She was so happy, she couldn't even hide it. It would normally result in Lauren snapping at her, but of course she wasn't fazed. She would flip her hair and stroll off, just radiating the phrase 'told you so' from every pore on her body. I was quite grateful, actually. It was one less person to feel sorry for me.

I felt like I was going to scream with the embarrassment. It was unbearable at first; like I couldn't even breathe. I had to take double of my medication, hoping to calm down the tightening of my lungs and eventually it worked. Now I felt an odd sense of calm. It was unnerving to feel this way; as un-phased as I just accepted it all. It was uncomfortable, but the calmness made it okay.

I walked out of the main building, noticing my surroundings for the first time in a week. The outside of the reception area had changed. There were more blues and yellows everywhere and it took me a few minutes to realize that these were the decorations for the huge baseball game that was tomorrow. I ducked my head and walked on faster towards work when I saw a group of girls eyeing me and whispering.

I threw my coat and bag into the store room and sat at my desk in the salon's reception clicking through the day's schedule. It wasn't long before all the girls arrived, gossiping and laughing and they gave me slight nods and shy smiles. I made myself busy typing up various new offers that the salon was having, and preparing a list for lunches.

"Hel-loooo!"

The voice was shrill and playful and it sounded like bells echoing in the salon's walls. I looked up to see a tiny girl in the doorway with short cropped black hair. She looked like a tiny pixie, with fragile features in her face that were beautiful.

"ALICE! THANK GOD YOU'RE BACK!" Lauren rushed over to her, picking her up in a tight embrace, "I've been dying here without you. Seriously."

I quickly learned that Alice was one of the more senior stylists. She'd been away travelling for a few months, but was now back; and it looked like she'd never even left. She got back in to the swing of things immediately. She was a natural. I watched her throughout the morning and was amazed at how she styled her clients hair with such passion and enthusiasm. She made them look a million dollars, as she would tell them. Everyone loved her, and it made me wonder why she had gone away in the first place.

I was copying up the lunch orders at my desk, doodling and trying to make myself look busier than I was. It was unusually quiet for a Friday afternoon.

"You're new."

I looked up to see Alice's huge blue eyes staring back at me from across the desk. Her smile was dazzling and I could see nothing back kindness in her expression. I couldn't help but smile gently back to her.

"Yeah, I started here a few months ago."

Her eyes narrowed slightly at my accent, but the kindness and interest never left as she opened her mouth to say something but paused for a second, and held out her hand for me over the desk, "I'm Alice Cullen."

I froze at her name. It couldn't be. He'd never said anything about siblings. Then again, he'd never really talked about his family. I took her hand gingerly.

"Cullen? As in..."

"Yeah, as in Edward Cullen's older sister," She seemed utterly un-phased by the fact I'd linked her to him, "You're Bella, right?"

"Yes; how did you know?" My brow furrowed in confusion.

"My brother told me about you. You moved here from London, right?" She crossed her arms leaned over my desk.

Her brother? Edward had told her about me? Why would he do that? Did she know about the bet too? Was she involved? Was this all another joke? The questions whirled around in my head and my guards were up immediately.

"Yes…"

She seemed to notice the change in my tone immediately and cocked her head to the side. We looked at each for a few minutes, trying to figure out what the other was thinking, before Alice sighed and smiled slightly.

"I know what he did," she whispered, "It was really crappy of him; and to be honest I'm not at all surprised."

I raised my eyebrow at her lack of faith in her brother.

"I mean, he's a great guy, and I love him to death, really," she continued, "but he has his flaws and his own reasons. He doesn't like to talk about it, but it kind of makes him a little bit of a jerk sometimes." She shrugged and looked at me apologetically. Did she want my forgiveness?

"Well, his actions aren't really my concern anymore," I mumbled and looked away from her eyes.

"Anymore? What; were they before? Did you guys date?" She questioned enthusiastically, a great smile spreading on her face.

"No!" I didn't mean to say it so loud, "I mean, no we didn't. We were just friends. But… we don't speak anymore, so it's not my concern what he does," I said, more quietly.

She narrowed her eyes and nodded in a way that suggested she didn't believe a word I'd just said. It was weird but I couldn't help but smile at her expression. She could see straight through me but it didn't make me feel nervous. She winked at me and smiled wider. I copied her.

"You never know, you might end up talking to him again..." she glanced up at the clock.

I laughed humorlessly, "I don't think so." It would surely disturb this calmness I had if I talked to Edward again. I never let myself think of the time we spent together; I never thought of our movie nights or walks on the beach we had; the many many conversations and lunch dates in the cafeteria.

Alice smiled and walked off as her next client was seated. I carried on with my jobs, ordering the food for the girls and printing out the rest of the promotional leaflets for Lauren.

I didn't even hear the salon door open as I was concentrating on the jobs I was doing. I heard his voice though. I could hear and recognize that voice wherever I was, no matter how crowded.

"Hey."

I tensed up a little bit and slowly glanced up at him through my lashes. His eyes were still as green as ever and his hair still as messy. His face looked sallower though, with faint circles under his eyes and a look of tiredness across his features.

"I have an appointment with Alice," he said when I didn't reply. He shifted his weight from one foot to another and pushed his hands into his pockets, looking very uncomfortable.

I looked to the computer and scanned through the names of the appointments, confused. I would definitely have remembered seeing his name if he had an appointment today. There was no way that I could have missed it.

"You're not down for one," I said without looking back at him.

"That's okay, Bella. I have a half hour free I can fit him in," Alice chimed in from my right, she waved her hand in dismissal, "he never books in anyway."

I nodded and reluctantly looked back at Edward, "Take a seat, she'll be ready in a second," I almost whispered. He nodded, never looking away from my eyes, and went to sit down.

I took a deep breath and immediately tried to distract myself but completely rearranging the whole desk. I was testing all the pens to see if they worked or not, when Alice's started talking again.

"Edward I'm ready for you now. Will you sit him down Bel-," she paused as she caught my gaze, "Actually, Tanya, can you do it?"

I breathed a sigh of relief; I really didn't want that particular job. Of course Tanya caught my relief.

"Well, I'm on my lunch break, Alice. So I guess Bel-la will have to do it," she sang my name, and grinned a huge fake grin to me and she strolled out. I tried to hold on to my anger; I wouldn't sink to her level, and I was determined not to show how uncomfortable I was. I didn't want her to feel any sort of satisfaction.

I rose and grabbed a gent's cutting gown from the wardrobe and pulled out the closest chair. I waited for Edward to sit down in it, never looking away from the back of the chair. He sat down gently and I threw gown over his head, bringing the ties together at the nape of his neck. My fingers brushed the hair there and I felt him shiver slightly at my touch. I concentrated with everything I had in fastening the gown correctly. I did it, finally, but I still couldn't bring myself to look at him.

"You want a drink?" I asked the customary question that I asked all clients. No matter how hard I tried, I was finding it difficult to treat Edward like an ordinary client.

"Water, please."

I stalked off into the kitchen and grabbed a cup, placing it under the water cooler. I tried to control my breathing while the cup filled. This is what Alice meant by talking to him again. She knew he'd be here. I tried, but I couldn't feel angry at her. I knew that she was good, and I couldn't see anything but kindness and friendliness radiating from her.

I walked back into the salon with Edward's water, seeing Alice standing behind him and playfully pulling his hair. They laughed as she described how she was going to shave various parts of his head and create a Mohawk right down the middle.

"Probably just a trim for today, Al," he chuckled as I placed his water in front of him, "Thanks," he said gently, locking his gaze in mine and smiling sheepishly. I nodded, and turned; hurrying back to my seat. I felt so stupid. How could I still not control myself and act normal around this boy? Even after what he'd done to me, I still felt the need to gaze into his beautiful eyes forever and wanted to feel his lips brush against mine again…

The second the clock struck 6pm, I left the salon. The cool evening breeze felt great and helped my clear my head. I'd not been able to think about anything else since Edward had been in for his appointment. I'd almost lost control of my breathing when his hand brushed against mine when he paid for his cut and it lingered there a little longer than necessary. Alice had done a great job with his hair. It hardly looked any different, which was perfect. When he pulled his hand through it though, Edward said it felt much lighter. It would have looked worthy of the catwalk with slime dripping from it.

I walked through the deserted paths of the Academy campus, listening to the sounds of the evening around me. I was looking for my headphones when I heard footsteps from somewhere near me. I lifted my head and paused immediately, scanning the ground around me. I felt stupid calling out if anyone was there, so I just carried on walking; a little faster this time.

"Bella!"

I jumped and screamed as I felt a hand grab my waist and pulled me back 3 steps and spun me around. It took me no time to recognize Mike, standing in front of me with an evil smile. I realized his arm was still around my waist and I pushed it off roughly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I said breathlessly.

He smirked, "Just wanted to get your attention."

"You're a jerk," I shoved him away and turned to leave, before he started talking again.

"Oh Bella, by the way," I stopped and turned to face him again, "I'm really sorry about the other day," a huge smile spread across his face; clearly not meaning a word, "that must have been embarrassing."

My mouth dropped open in shock, not believable how much of an ass he was.

"That's enough, Mike," I recognized Emmett's voice. I didn't even notice that there were two other boys standing a little way behind Mike. I looked more closely at Emmett and he gazed back shaking his head slightly, as if apologizing to me, "Come on Mike; let's go."

Mike eye's had never left my face, he had an expression on his face that made me worried, as if he was thinking up some sort of plan. He smiled very slowly, "Hang on Em," he took another step towards me, making me instinctively take one back.

"You know, Edward turned out to be a dead end, but don't lose faith in Floridian boys," he winked at me, "We're not all that bad." He reached out his hand and pushed my hair behind my shoulder, "You want to try your luck again?"

The way he was looking at me suddenly made me fume. I couldn't stand having his disgusting arm on my shoulder, his hand playing with my hair and my own hand roughly pushed his off without permission. I raised it again, seemingly trying to hit his face, but before I even knew what I was going to do he grabbed my wrist and pushed me, causing me to stagger and he pressed my back into the tree behind me. His hold on my wrist was really strong and it hurt. I tried to twist it out of his grip, but he held on fast. My heart started to beat faster and I could feel my head starting to spin. My vision blurred slightly and I tried with all my might to hold onto my consciousness. His face was inches away from mine and I felt his breath fanning my face, making my stomach do turns and flips.

"That was a wrong move, London. Jesus, you try and be friendly and this is–"

He didn't have chance to finish his sentence because he was suddenly pushed to the ground with a sickening thump. I looked up to see that someone had pulled him from me and was standing over him, with his back to me. I doubled over as I tried to breathe again and it caught in my throat, making me cough. My arms and legs were shaking and before long, I couldn't hold my weight. I slumped against the tree.

I felt his cool hand on my shoulder before I heard his voice. My head snapped up and saw his glorious face hovering above mine, full of concern. My head was still spinning as I tried to control my breathing; confused, I looked back over at Mike, still on the ground, but no one was hovering over him anyone. I looked back at Edward, trying to believe that he'd actually pulled Mike from me. Would he have done that?

"Are you okay Bella? Can you hear me? Did he hurt you?" He lowered his head so his eyes were level with mine.

I could only manage to nod, not able to find my stupid voice. I felt so brainless; when would I finally be able to act cool around this boy?

I suddenly felt my head spin erratically again, it was like I'd been hit with a huge wave and my legs gave way underneath me. A strong pair of hands caught me though before I hit the ground and just before everything darkened and blurred, my feet were lifted from the floor.

I tired with all my might to keep hold of my consciousness, but I quickly realized that I was way past that now. My heart was beating so fast, I doubted that my body would be able to keep up. My head was spinning, and although it had never been this bad before, I knew exactly what was happening.

I vaguely remembered that Edward had been standing in front of me, and so I figured that he was also the reason I was being carried away. A small voice in the back of my mind shouted to that he was by no means to find out the real reason I had lost consciousness; but I knew that if he didn't get me what I needed and soon, it would be too late.

My voice came out in raspy whispers, and I hoped to God that he'd hear me, "My room… cabinet – above the bed… pink pills… four…"

And that's when everything went black.

**Leave me a review and let me know what you thought! **


	7. Chapter Seven

**OKAY, so here's Chapter 7! Sorry for the delay, but I'm really trying to find any spare minute to get writing, AND I think this chapter will be worth it; a little longer and a lot of questions are answered…**

**Thank you so much for your reviews, they really do get me to write faster.**

**Warning: This chapter deals with some dark themes. **

**We also jump to Edward's POV in this chapter, so let me know what you think about that and whether I should do this for future chapters.**

**Also, I was listening to Will. ft. Miley Cyrus – Fall Down… musical inspiration for this Chapter.**

_CHAPTER 7_

"Bella!"

It was coming from far away. I wasn't even sure if I'd heard right.

"Bella!"

But it's definitely getting louder. Isn't it?

"Beelllaa!"

Yes, it is. I can't be imagining this.

"BELLA."

"Jesus!" I shrieked as I jumped up. I stupid voice wasn't my imagination and it definitely wasn't so far away now. It was right behind me, yelling. I whipped my head around and finally saw who's stupid voice it actually was.

"Jacob?!"

He was standing there, right behind me with a goofy grin on his face. He was so tall; he blocked any sunlight coming through the windows. I was sat down, but I don't remember him being this tall. His olive skin was shimmering against his black hair and his eyes were sparkling. He was obviously happy to see me and that reason dissolved my bad mood. I smiled back at him.

"Hey! What? You got cotton in ears girl? I was called you like 5 times," he grinned and sat himself down next to me. The waiting room had become really crowded, not helping with my bad mood, and it was one of the few seats left empty.

"I'm sorry, I was trying to… I don't even know. I'm just not in a very good mood," I sighed.

"Yeah, hospitals do that…" he grinned after nodding solemnly, "What are you doing here anyway?" He looked at me, concern shadowing his features. I didn't even have it in me to think of a good lie.

"I'm waiting for some test results."

"Test results? For what? Is everything alright?" he was definitely worried now, and he turned his whole body to face me.

I smiled to ease his worry, "It's nothing, really; just routine stuff. What are you doing here? Are you alright?"

He didn't seem to fully believe me, but didn't push it further, "I'm just here to pick up my grandmothers prescription," his brows were still furrowed.

"Ah, right," I looked to him again, only to see he was still staring at me, as if trying to figure out what was wrong, I didn't remember him being so observant. "Really, Jacob, I'm fine. Quit staring at me," I struggled to push my bad mood away. No need to hurt him.

He smiled, and all the tension was absolved.

"Bella, I didn't think I'd see you again," he leaned back into his chair and stretched out his impossibly long legs, "you like Florida?"

I laughed humorlessly, "Yep. It's fan-fucking-tastic,-" I replied very sarcastically, but quickly covered my mouth after I realized what I'd said, "I'm sorry, I never swear."

Jacob genuinely laughed, "It's okay. Wow, is it that bad?"

I sighed, "Yes… No… it's alright, I guess."

He paused, seemingly stopping himself from saying what he was about to say. That's when he caught my eye. He was standing across the waiting room, and it looked like he was looking for something.

Or someone.

He stopped when his eyes landed on me. His whole body seemed to relax for a second, but then just as fast, he tensed up again. He glanced over to Jacob, who had flung his arm onto the back of chair behind me, and back to me; his brows furrowed together and he suddenly seemed angry. Why the hell was he angry?

I watched as Edward made his way over to us, never breaking eye contact. My foul mood somehow gave me lots of confidence. He stopped right in front of me abruptly, making Jacob sit up a little.

I stared him out, finding my confidence from somewhere – I don't know where. He broke first,

"What are you doing?"

I raised my eyebrows, "Excuse me?"

He paused to stare at me, confused, "Are you okay? You never even called me to – I mean… I was worried, what the hell happened that night?"

I was suddenly aware that Jacob was sat next to me, and I didn't want to get into what happened 3 nights ago with him sat there. I didn't even remember clearly myself. All I knew was that I'd had an attack, and found myself in my bed the next morning with my little brown bottle of pink pills open and spilt on my nightstand. Rosalie was the one to tell me that Edward had brought me home. I didn't remember anything. Nothing came back to me after what Mike said to me.

"I-Edward, I don't know – "

"Isabella Swan?"

My head whipped around and saw the doctor standing my file, waiting for me.

"I have to go," I mumbled, "It was nice to see you Jacob," I stood up.

"Yeah, you too Bells. Give me a call sometime, okay?" Jacob had stood up too.

"Sure," I risked a glance at Edward and saw he was looking at Jacob in a peculiar way. What the hell was he even doing here? I opened my mouth to say bye to Edward, but then my frustration won, and I just turned away, towards the doctor.

As I got closer to her, she lifted up the first page of my file and smiled warmly at me before, opening the door to her office. I hadn't even gotten through the door before she said, "So are the both of you going to be attending these meetings?"

What? Both of us? I turned around to see that Edward was standing behind me, waiting.

"What the hell are you doing?" My voice came out louder than I intended, but I didn't care. "Edward, you're not supposed to be here, will you leave me alone?"

He leaned towards me so his eyes were level with mine and there was so much fire in them that it almost frightened me, "It looked like you almost died in my arms the other night, and you never even gave me an explanation, and you're still not. You're not giving me anything Bella, what the hell? I want to know what's going on."

"It has nothing to do with you! How dare you think you can just stroll into my doctor's appointment?" I yelled back straight at his face, "This is my problem, not yours. I don't need you here."

He laughed sarcastically, "Yeah, Miss. Swan doesn't need anything from anyone; she can do fine all by herself," he paused for a second and then the fierceness was back in his eyes. He looked fuming, "Bella, you can fool yourself into thinking you can deal with whatever you're dealing with, but you're not. I can see your not and I can't stand it anymore. Tell me what you're hiding. I know there's something wrong with you and I want to- need to know what it is," he took a breath but carried on, "I watched you pass out in my arms, you were telling me you needed something before it was too late – 'too fucking late' Bella! You have any idea what that made me think? I thought you were going to die! I thought I was going to be carrying your dead fucking body. I've had enough. Your mysterious, dark, 'I have a secret I can't tell anyone' image got old," his tone suddenly became a lot softer, "Tell me what is wrong, Bella."

He stared into my eyes fiercely, trying to pull it out of me. I felt tears forming in them and wanted nothing more than to scream back at him; my voice didn't come out louder than I whisper, but not before the doctor spoke.

"I'll give you two a minute."

I ignored her, never leaving Edward's eyes, "It didn't seem to matter so much when you made your deal with your friends. What, Edward? Did you change your mind? Do you not think you 'broke' me enough? Do you really want to crush me even more?" I clamped my eyes shut to stop the tears from spilling over, and chuckled darkly, "Just stop, Edward. I know you don't care. Do me this one favor and stop; I'm not giving you any gossip or information for you or any of your friends." I turned away from him, but he grabbed my bicep and spun me around again, holding me close to him.

He groaned in frustration, "You're so stupid, Bella. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be standing here would I? I'm not asking to know what's wrong so I can tell everyone else. I don't give a shit about them; I'm asking because I need to know. For me. For my piece of mind. So I can figure out how to fix it." He searched my face furiously, trying to get me to understand; but I couldn't. It just didn't make sense.

You see, ever since that awful day when I found out about the bet, I'd been seeing Edward everywhere for weeks. There was that time when he came into the salon, but other places too. I would see him coming out of the baseball practices; pass him in the halls of school. I saw him at the pizza parlor and even just walking down the street. However, that was just coincidental. What made me uneasy every time, was the way he would just stop what he was doing and stare at me. It was like he was trying to send me messages through his eyes. Sometimes I thought he was following me. I was sure that I kept seeing him across the street every time I went into the hospital for my appointments. I laughed at myself each time, telling myself I was being paranoid. Now that he was standing here, looking so intensely into my eyes, wanting to know my secret more now than ever before, I thought maybe I wasn't as paranoid as I thought. Had he been following me?

So of course, not being able to deal with this here and now; I didn't what I do best. I left.

"I'm sorry, can I reschedule my appointment? I can't do this right now," I said to the doctor, but I didn't wait for a reply as I disentangled myself from Edward and turned to walk away, towards the exit. I walked fast and didn't look back. I thought I heard Edward shouting my name but I ignored it and kept on walking. I didn't stop until I reached the door of dorm building, and then I paused. Something had clicked into my mind. Everything seemed so clear. And it finally felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I felt really peaceful, which was unnerving as I knew I should be panicked with the thoughts going through my head; but I wasn't. All the confusion and mismatched thoughts were the first thing in a while that actually made sense to me.

I flung the door open and ran upstairs into my room. I grabbed the little brown bottle of pills and then went to find the rest of them which were stashed away in my nightstand. I hurried around, not wanting to allow myself to change my mind, and also not wanting Rose to come in and find me. With two full bottles of the pills, I left the room and headed to the beach. The same beach that Edward had taken me to so many weeks ago. I tried not to think about him being there with me, but tried to focus on how peaceful I felt when I was there. It seemed like I was the only person in the whole world on the secluded sandy beach and that's exactly what I needed now.

It took 35 minutes for me to walk there, considering I almost ran the whole way. It was perfect though. When I stepped out of the trees that enclosed it, it was exactly how I remembered. I suddenly felt so calm. I walked towards the water and sat down. It was getting cooler as the sun disappeared and the warm sand felt good on my bare legs. I was still wearing the shorts and t-shirt and was glad I hadn't picked up a jacket. The cold would numb me. I placed the pill bottles in front of me and I took a deep breath.

**EDWARD POV**

She was so stubborn it made my blood boil. I was so angry; but the weird thing was, it was at her. All I wanted to do when I looked at her was hug her; be there for her. She looked so broken when I told her how I felt and what had gone through my mind the night she'd pass out. That's why when she ran out of the hospital I didn't run out after her. I wanted to give her some space. Maybe she'd come round. I'd already done enough; I didn't want to break her anymore.

Of course, the doctor wouldn't tell me anything, especially after seeing our argument.

I walked back to my car, wondering what the hell I was going to do next. I had seen Bella come to the hospital twice a week, for 2 hours every time, and it killed me not knowing why she was in here. This must have something to do with her big secret. It made my stomach roll when I thought that it could only mean there was something wrong with her; medically.

I palmed my face while I sat in my car, pausing before I started it. I was exhausted, yet was nowhere near about to give up on her.

I didn't know why, but I couldn't stop thinking about Bella. In the month and a half we spent together I had grown really close to Bella. Of course I was attracted to her. She had large beautiful brown eyes and chestnut hair that flowed gently past her shoulders and every move she made was soft and gentle; graceful. She was timid and shy, but I could see that was thinking a world of thought behind her eyes. It killed me every time the subject of her secret came up and there would be a strained look on her face. It was obvious that she was hurting; she would do anything to revert the subject back and I could see that she immediately distanced herself from me whenever it came up. So for my selfish reasons; just so I'd get her back to myself, I kept away from the subject.

Ever since Mike opened his back mouth and fucked everything up, she'd kept away from me like I had the plague. She'd cross the road when she's see me walking; move seats in class; she even left the pizza parlor when I walked in. At first, I didn't understand why my chest would hurt so much whenever she'd walk away from me. I didn't know why I'd have this overwhelming urge to pull her back and never let go. Whenever she'd catch my eye and look away sadly, I'd want to scream at the world in anger. I didn't get it at first.

Now I did.

I finally pulled away from the hospital and went over to the dorms. I didn't want to be anywhere else; I just wanted to be alone. I knew Emmett would either be with Rosalie, or the guys.

I fell on my bed and before long I felt my eyes getting heavy. I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke with a start, it was dark outside. I looked over to my clock and it said 8:03pm. Wow, I'd been out for almost 6 hours.

A fist banged on my door again, and I realized that was what had woke me up.

"Edward, open the damn door!"

I recognized Rosalie's voice and pulled myself up to fling the door open. She stared at my sleepy state, confused, with her fist frozen in mid air.

"What, Rosalie?"

She paused, "Is Bella with you?"

My brows knit together; now I was confused, "No. Why would she be with me? She hasn't talked to me in weeks."

She sighed in frustration, "But she's not in our room. I checked the hair salon, the library, even her English class for that extra credit thing – no one has seen her. She's not anywhere, I've been trying her cell but she's not answering. She left for some appointment this afternoon and I've not heard from her since. She said she'd only be a few hours, but I don't know where the hell she is now!" Rosalie rambled, panting and out of breath. I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her,

"Hey, relax, its okay," she seemed to calm down a little, "Where's Emmett?"

"Playing baseball. He won't know where she is. I couldn't think of anywhere else but with you. She's not really friends with anyone else but me and you- well, used to be." I didn't miss the dead look in her eyes as she remembered what I'd done to Bella.

"I saw her earlier today. At the hospital –"

"What was she doing at the hospital?!"

"Well that's what I was trying to find out, but we had a little argument and she left. I don't know where she went, and I haven't seen her since."

"Well we have to find her Edward, I'm really worried," the expression on Rose's face made me think she wasn't telling me something.

"Why are you so worried, Rose?"

She sighed, paused, and then decided to just tell me, "She was saying this morning that she's tired- just tired of everything. She may have just meant like school work of something, but I'm not so sure now. She kept saying that she wants to go to the beach, and that she want to feel peaceful again. But the beach is the most crowded place there is, how could she feel peaceful there?"

I knew exactly where she meant. Bella wasn't talking about the main beach front where everyone else went; she meant the secluded hidden part where I'd taken her for our first 'date'. But why was she gone for so long? Rose's next words were all it took for me to jump into action.

"Her pill bottle was gone."

Two minutes later, I found myself in my car speeding through the darkness. I'd left Rose at my dorm, not caring about anything other than getting to Bella in the next 5 minutes. It didn't take me long to get there and I threw the car into park and jumped out, not bothering to close the door behind me. I ran through the trees, looking for her.

"Bella?!"

I saw her slumped at her water's edge. She was wearing nothing but the shorts and t shirt she was wearing at the hospital and was unsurprisingly shivering violently.

"Bella!" I pulled her torso up and she slumped into me. She was barely conscious and her eyes were half open.

"Bella, what happened? What did you do?" I frantically tried to search for any injuries on her, but didn't find any. She wasn't harmed. My eyes fell on the brown bottle that lay next her in the sand. I reached over to pick it up, only to find that there was another buried with it. They were both empty.

I looked back to Bella again, scared out of my mind.

"Bella! What the hell have you done? Look at me… look at me! Did you take all the pills?" She didn't reply, "Bella!" I was shouting, but I didn't care. I scooped her up in my arms and started walking back to the car. She was mumbling something that I couldn't make out.

"It's okay, I'm going to take you to the hospital, you're going to be okay," I chanted, more to myself than to her. My mind was reeling and I refused to think about the fact she may be dying in my arms.

She kept mumbling, and I only caught one word she kept repeating: hospital.

Suddenly she was thrashing in my arms, screaming out to be out down. I almost dropped her, but got her into the car quickly before I did.

"No! NO! Not going to the hospital, no!" she was still very much out of it, but she shouted out even though.

"Bella, Bella! Stop! I have to take you, you've overdosed, and we have to go now!"

"NO," she raised her arms to get out of the car but I grabbed them before she could and pushed her back down.

"Stop it, Bella. Stop," she calmed down a little, probably because her consciousness was slipping.

She slumped underneath my arms and stopped fighting completely.

"What were you thinking Bella? Why the hell did you do it?" I pleaded with her. I knew I had to get her to the hospital quickly, but I couldn't help myself. I need to know.

"Had enough," she mumbled.

"Had enough? Enough of what, Bella you're not making any sense," I tried to keep her awake.

"I can't do it anymore… it's too hard… to pretend… to hide for everyone..."

"Hide what? Bella you don't have to pretend with me; don't hide from me."

"I can't..." she breathed.

"Bella! Please! I can't watch you die," I begged her.

"No… that's why… I'm not allowed… not allowed to love you because you'll only watch me die…"

I was shocked at her words, "What? No, Bella – why would I watch you die?" I started to panic.

"Because… I'm ill… dying…" She was slipping into unconsciousness fast, and I knew we should be at the hospital right now, but I couldn't stop now. I had to know what she was saying.

"Bella!"

"I… Acute… Myelogenous Leukae… mia…"

I froze. No. I couldn't be hearing this right.

I shook her slightly, refusing to let her pass out now. My breathing became shallow and I felt my own body start to shake.

"BELLA. Don't you dare stop now- Bella!"

Her eyes fluttered open, and she took a deep breath. I could see she was fighting it, but it wasn't working. She slipped further down the leather seats and her head lolled to the side.

"I…I have seven years… left…"

That's when she fell unconscious.

I threw the car into reverse and sped to the hospital.

**So we finally know her secret! Is it what you thought it would be?**

**Please throw me a review and let me know what you thought! Reviews really do make me write faster! Also, let me know if liked the POV switch and whether I should carry on in future chapters.**

**I hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Chapter Eight

**I know this chapter is so incredibly late! My final's are here, and I've been so busy with work, and my USB was lost, and I thought I'd lost the whole story altogether... You get the picture.**

**I hope this chapter is worth the wait! I have a week off now so Chapter 9 is not too far away, I promise!**

**Please enjoy and review!**

_CHAPTER EIGHT_

The beeping was really getting on my nerves. It wasn't meant to be like this was it? From all the books I've read and the movies I'd seen, it was meant to be peaceful, relaxing; quiet. I'd never read anything about this racket. It was bright too. I mean, I know that there was going to be a bright light that I had to walk into, but this seemed so... artificial. All that, and; I swear these voices aren't angels. This is one crappy heaven.

I tried to open my eyes to at least see wherever the hell this was, but the light was too bright and I just clamped them shut again. I suddenly felt something tying me down. This was infuriating; wasn't I meant to be weight less? My stomach felt as light as a feather but I couldn't lift my arms and my legs felt really numb.

A door opened and I heard hushed whispers. I didn't open my eyes; the light was too bright still. I strained to hear what as being said.

"Vitals are looking okay... Her blood pressure is still low, so keep an eye on that..."

I groaned internally, I guess this wasn't heaven then. I tried to think back at what could have gone wrong. Although now I think about it, I should have guessed this was a hospital from the smell.

The door opened again and I couldn't have missed that voice anywhere.

"Is it okay to visit?"

This could not get any worse. My breathing became shallower and I immediately heard the stupid machine beep faster.

"Looks like she's awake. Don't let anyone see you though, visiting hours technically don't start until 6," the first voice said, I assumed it was the doctor.

I heard someone shuffle out and the door gently closed.

I could smell his cologne before he even stepped closer. I waited until I heard him sit on the chair next to my bed gently before I slowly opened my eyes. I really took my time letting my eyes adjust to the light as I stared at the ceiling. I couldn't stand the silence anymore and I could feel his eyes boring into me; I turned to face him.

Annoyingly, he was just as gorgeous and handsome as he was before; before anything had happened. Even though his bronze hair was even messier than before; looking even better and his eyes had dark shadows under them, his whole face looked sallower, but he was just as devastatingly beautiful as I remembered. His brow was slightly furrowed as he stared back at me; it was as if he was trying to figure something out.

And then it suddenly hit me. What was he even doing here anyway? How did he know I was here? How did anyone know I was here? What the hell went wrong? I was alone on the beach and no one knew I had gone there.

The machine started beeping erratically again as I panicked. Edward's eyes widened and he looked over to the machine before looking back at me again. "Hey - hey it's okay - calm down, Bella. You're safe, it's fine," he put his hand on my shoulder.

"I know I'm safe, I'm in a freaking hospital," I mumbled.

He paused and chuckled at my accent as he took his hand back, "At least you're coherent."

He paused for a second as the air started to grow awkward.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out.

Edward didn't look back me; he kept his eyes trained on his shoes as he sighed. It took him a minute to answer, but I waited patiently.

"I know," he finally whispered.

Even though I knew as much (why else would he be here?), I still froze. This was my worst nightmare come true.

"Shit," I mumbled, looking away from him.

It grew silent again, neither of us knowing what to say. I was doing so well, I'd hidden this for so long from everybody I knew, everyone closest to me, and this guy had to come around and screw it all up. What was so special about him? What power did he have to break everything down?

"Bella, look at me," his voice was so soft and gentle, I almost didn't hear him. I looked back and his face was just inches from mine. He leaned on the side of my bed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Have you ever had one of those moments when all coherent thoughts leave your mind? You can't think of anything; it's just blank. Whatever plan you had before, whatever you thought was going to happen or was going to say becomes meaningless and then, worst case scenario, you blurt out the truth – which is normally what you didn't want to say. Of course, it always ends up being the worst case scenario for me; and his eyes were making my insides feel mushy.

"Because you were getting too close," I sighed.

His brows knit together in confusion, "Too close? What do you mean?"

"I would have been trapping you in if I fell in love with you," I breathed, and then stopped.

Oh, well done Bella. Fan-fucking-tastic, you've really done it this time.

He lifted his head a little, "You're in love with me?"

"No," I didn't miss a beat.

"No?"

"No."

I tried to look everywhere but at him, but I failed. He didn't look like he believed me, and pulled back further, leaving his arms folded next to my pillow.

He sighed heavily and the air shifted a little, "That's too bad."

"What?' It was my turn to look at him confused.

He turned to look at me again, but didn't say anything.

"How do you know?" I asked him when I knew he wasn't going to elaborate.

"You told me."

"What?!" Now he had my attention.

He tried to hide his smirk, "I found you on the beach. You were out of it, lying next to your empty pill bottles." Did he just snarl? "I tried to get you to tell me why you did it, and you finally told me. You finally told me your secret," he couldn't hide his smile now.

"This isn't a joke to me," I said angrily.

That wiped the grin from his face and he looked hurt, "Of course it isn't. This is anything but a joke, Bella. Jesus -" he looked away, and he seemed angry now; very angry. Why the hell was he angry? He sighed before he looked back to me; "You know what I thought when I saw you on the beach?" He carried on speaking slowly when I didn't respond, "I thought I was going to find you dead. For the second time in my life, I thought you were dead. I saw myself carrying you to my car, then the hospital, and then I'd wait, in the waiting room, while your family were called, and were told the news. I would have waited until they arrived, and then I'd tell them that I was the one who found you. I'd have to watch while they realised that they'd never speak to you again; never see you blush; never hug their daughter; or see her grow up."

I was mesmerised; I'd never heard Edward speak this way or for so long. I was lost in his eyes.

"And then I realised that _I_ would never see you again," he looked down and started playing with the thread on my pillow. He'd leaned forward again and I could smell him. I studied his face as he continued quietly, "_I _would never see you blush either; _I_ would never get to see you... or hug you..." he sighed, "It was scary. I didn't want to yell at you, but I didn't know what else to do, you were so out of it. I wanted to shake you awake, but I didn't know if you were injured or not. And then finally, you told me what was wrong, and everything made sense. Well, not everything, but it was clearer. I'd finally found out your secret," he stopped and looked at me again, "I always thought that when I knew it, I'd know how to fix it. You always became so sad whenever we talked about it; I wanted to make it right, but you would never tell me what it was. And then you finally let me in - but now I still don't know how to fix it –"

"You can't," I whispered.

"But that doesn't mean I won't still try, Bella," he sat up straighter, his eyes level with mine, "I'm not going anywhere," his eyes flickered down to my lips and back up, "Because even if you don't... I do."

He let that hang there for a while, his gaze never leaving mine.

"You... what?" He didn't answer me, just continued to stare.

I had never even let myself think about the l-word; but I was being really stupid if I thought I didn't feel it. I knew exactly why I couldn't just stop thinking about him - why I couldn't control my breathing or my ability to be normal when he was around. Even though I had questioned it before, I knew exactly the reason why he'd been the one to ruin my charade and find out.

It was so damn obvious.

And now he was saying he wasn't going anywhere? Did he realise what he was saying?

"You know if you stay, you're only going to watch me die?" he winced at my words and opened his mouth to say something, but I stopped him, "You say you're not going anywhere but neither am I. This is it for me. This is what I'm dealing with until it finally ends - until I finally lose and it wins. It's going to take my life." I enunciated the last sentence.

He looked like he grew angrier as I was speaking, "Then I'll deal with it too. I'm not going to leave you alone with this, not now."

I felt my confidence grow, and for the first time I felt as though I had a little bit of power.

"Why? Why do you want to do that, Edward?" I narrowed my eyes, daring him to tell me.

He did the same, "You really want me to say it first?"

"Say what first? I don't know what you're talking about," I knew exactly what he was talking about. Our faces were mere inches apart and the atmosphere had grown really tense.

He smiled, "Sure... Okay." He sat up even straighter and his left arm reached out as he tucked a piece of my hair behind ear. Left his hand there as he brought his face closer.

"I'm not going anywhere, Bella. I'm going to stay with you through the hospital appointments, the treatments – because you will have them – and anything else it is you're going to have. I'm going to be sat right here and get you what you want, take you where you need; bring you your homework. I'm not going to get tired of it, and I'm not going to give up because..." he sighed, "Because I love you."

I was frozen. I knew it was what we were talking about, but I didn't think he'd actually say it. I couldn't breathe.

"Breathe Bella."

I let out a long sigh and closed my eyes, trying to think clearly. I think it was about 4 minutes that went by and neither of us said anything. He knew I was trying to think, and he let me. When I opened my eyes, he was still staring at me, but he was just waiting patiently.

I looked down at my hands as I talked quietly, "This was why I didn't tell you. Why I didn't tell anyone. I went to my appointments alone. I hid all the letters from my parents. They thought I was going off the rails and I let them. I let them send me here because I thought it'd be easier to hide it; if I wasn't around them. I didn't want them to suffer along with me. If I have limited time left I didn't want it to be spent with the people I love in pain. I wanted to them happy, without the worry. I figured I'd rather them think I was a normal bratty teenager than a dying one.

I never had any boyfriends because I thought if I fell in love then I'd be doing the exact same thing to them too. I was happy when I moved here, because I thought I'd have no ties to anyone and I wouldn't fall in love; it wouldn't be hard to keep to myself. I didn't think I'd be so wrong.

It's so selfish of me to pull everyone else into this, when I can handle it fine on my own; there's just no need to let everyone else suffer with –"

"You just said it."

I whipped my head back to look at him; he was smirking, "Said what?"

"You said you didn't, before; but you do. Just admit it."

"Admit what? I didn't say anything," Shit, I'd just admitted it to him.

"You just said you didn't think you'd fall in love, but that you were wrong," he smiled wider, "I knew it."

I frowned, "It doesn't change anything."

He barked out a laugh, "Of course it does! You think I'm going to leave you alone now? I wasn't going to anyway, but definitely not now," he couldn't stop smiling.

"Why are you smiling? You're setting yourself up for a long time of stress and worry and pain and –"

"I'm smiling because the girl I love just told me she loves me back," he whispered.

My breath caught in my throat and his gaze trapped me again, "I didn't say that."

"Then say it."

"I can't."

"Why not? We both know it; stop denying yourself. Just say it."

I didn't say anything.

"Bella, please; just say –"

"I love you."

**You know what to do ;)**


End file.
